Naruto: Defiled By Her Blood
by MountainWind
Summary: Her crime, unforgivable. Her fate, left in the hands of the one man she would live for. Ino's tale of sadness and despair. NarutoxIno. Ino Centric. Complete. M for mature language and adult references.
1. The Crime

Defiled by Her Blood

By Mountain Wind

Ino has been inducted into the elite ANBU division of the Konoha military. She has finally shown her worth by beating Sakura in their near life long struggle for superiority over each other.

Even with this win Ino feels frustrated as Sakura has one thing over her, Naruto. The two old friends have finally been able to express their deep feelings for each other. Because of him Sakura is now platonic when it comes to their old rivalry, causing Ino to be jealous.

As her new stint as an ANBU begins she is sent on a highly classified mission that ends in tragedy. She will have to face the consequences of her actions.

The only question is, whose hand shall administer the punishment?

**

* * *

**Chapter 1 

"Congratulations Yamanaka-san. You not only scored highest within your group you also reached the ninety fifth percentile," the examiner explained as he showed Ino her test results. "Because of your family we expected the use of your family jutsu, when you used other means we admittedly gave you a little bonus. The Shintensen was an expected sight during both the intelligence and infiltration parts of the exam."

"And I got more points by _not_ using it?" she asked.

"Yes. You see it's easy for someone from the Hyuuga clan to use the Byakugan or from the Aburame clan to use their bugs, and for someone from the Yamanaka clan to use the Shintensen. We want to see inventive members more than members who have crutch techniques." He signed her exam and then stamped it with a seal. "You're going to be training with an ANBU captain for the first few months until you understand all the procedures used by the whole section, not each individual division."

"Which division will I be placed in?" Ino asked as she reviewed the needed scores for each.

"You could do well in intelligence. But with your scores you could choose whichever one you want. I suggest thinking about it. If you rush in you'll find transferring to another division harder than getting into the ANBU in the first place," he joked.

"I'll go into the intelligence division," Ino said as she handed the form for transfer. The examiner snorted back laughter and stamped and sealed the form in an envelope. "When do I get the tattoo?"

He couldn't help but to bust out laughing.

* * *

Sakura blinked as she stared at Ino's bare bicep. "I beat you!" Ino said in a singsong voice. Sakura smiled and leaned back before she gave her friend a big hug. "So what will you do now Sakura-chan? I'm already in the intelligence division! In a year or two I may be a captain!" she said as she replaced the sleeve of her shirt over the twin swirl tattoo.

"Well I'll be taking my entrance exam in a week or two after I complete this next mission. When is your first mission Ino-sama?" Sakura asked in a mocking tone.

"Around the same time. We'll celebrate your successful mission together! Unless you'll be spending the night with Naruto again?" Ino asked with a sly smile.

Sakura smiled back and moved a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Ino snorted when she saw the dreamy look in her friend's eyes. The two were sitting, as usual, inside of the Yamanaka Flower shop. Sakura was leaning over the counter at the opposite end, near the door that led to the back. Ino was behind the register.

Ino and Sakura had been rivals ever since both of them had developed their mutually childish crush on Sasuke. Ino had slowly begun focusing on her rise in the shinobi ranks, as their mutual target of love had shifted, and Sakura had moved on toward being with Naruto.

Although she was happy for Sakura, Ino was a little jealous. The two were happy and spent a lot of time together. Ino had Chouji and Shikamaru to pal around with, but neither of them gave her what Naruto gave to Sakura, a feeling of peace and home. Both women now lived on their own, even with Sakura planning to move into Naruto's much bigger apartment, and Ino kept feeling lonely whenever she walked in.

"…to come?" Sakura ended.

"What?"

"I'm going shopping before Naruto and I get some dinner, do you want to come?" she made sure the last part was drawn out as if Ino was stupid.

"Sure," Ino said. "_Who knows when the next time might be_," she thought.

* * *

Four days later Ino was staring at the secret headquarters of the ANBU. The HQ of the most secret section of the Konoha forces was located within a cut off area of the forest. To enter it one must be led by a high ranking, and trusted, ANBU captain, only registered ANBU who have their mask and armor are allowed to go there without being blindfolded or blocked from finding their way back. 

"Well this it. From here on out, until your six years of basic service are up this is where you will receive your orders. Come on I'll show you to the equipping station."

Her captain led her inside and pointed out that each division had two different floors. The building itself was two or three square acres in size. Ino only imagined how much space was on each of the floors. There were seventeen floors, nine were located underground to keep the building under the tree line. The six topside were for the heads of each division and the Hokage. The topmost underground was the locker rooms. Under that was Command division, which was over Hunting division, then Intelligence under that, Testing and Talent and finally Torture and Interrogations on the bottom two floors.

"When you receive your official papers you'll be given a sign code to be used at each elevator to go to your level. You'll also be given a password for each room, it's a lot to memorize but the Intelligence division holds as much about Konoha as it does its enemies. I'd like to warn you ahead of time most of your files and things will be in your own space until you rise in rank. Anyone under second lieutenant doesn't get even a desk or file drawer." He led her into the equipping station and showed her to armor first.

"This is the standard ANBU armor. It offers minimum resistance to all jutsus and chakra based weaponry. I'll give you a heads up and tell you to buy something higher up the line. This stuff won't cut it on the harder missions," he explained as he showed her the other armor available.

"We have to buy our own armor?" she asked.

"Only because you're a rookie. You get a marginal discount of fifty to sixty percent because of your score and speed in choosing divisions. Each division has a different preference. For intelligence they focus on defense most because of the fact most intelligence members aren't that strong. Here, this is cheap with the discount and perfect for a newbie," he said as he showed off a set of armor.

"It looks like the rest," she said. He smiled and snapped his fingers. The ANBU dealing with sales nodded. He took the armor down and placed it next to a set of the basic armor. The captain fired a blast of fire at the basic armor. It held up for a few seconds before melting into mush. He then aimed at the better armor, it was only singed. "I guess I made a mistake," Ino blushed and paid for the armor.

"Next clothing, which is really just getting your size," he said as she picked up a package of her size. Each package contained two weeks worth of the garment, eliminating the need for cleaning. "It's water resistant, stain resistant, and is machine washable."

"You sound like a commercial," Ino snorted as she placed the heavy bundles into a cart the ANBU on duty had provided for her.

Finally they entered the weapons room. She saw hundred of scrolls and kodachis. There were a few Wakizashis and Katanas, but mostly the short swords used my many ninja. "You don't have to pay for shuriken or kunai, but scrolls and swords all cost a little." He put an arm around her and leaned in. "Just between you and me, grab a cheap sword and hold on to it until you have a chance to steal a good one from a pesky target, the one on my back," he pointed to his own, which had a very ornate hilt and sheathe, "I got from a samurai bodyguard when I was in the hunting division."

Ino nodded, she chose a moderately priced blade not because she didn't believe her captain, but because she never put much emphasis on swords and the art. Shuriken and kunai were important for any ninja, but only a few she knew used swords.

After she had been issued all of her basic gear she headed for the mask room. She saw one lone ANBU woman standing in front of a few crates of masks. They were labeled with each of the twelve animals an ANBU could choose from. Ino saw that the unit, which approved the use of that mask, was marked on each crate. Her captain pointed out the ones for the Intelligence division.

Ino looked at them. Dog, cat, rabbit, dragon, snake. Ino picked a rabbit mask and looked at it. Only the eyes were marked. She looked at the ANBU then her captain. "You have to paint it. The kits are free. You get a new mask with each ascension of rank."

When she had received everything she needed she put them in a locker and took a scroll in a pouch next to it. Her captain told her to write the number of the locker on the scroll and use it to transport her things back to her whenever she needed it. Ino thanked him and she was led home by another ANBU. He gave her a scroll detailing where she was to meet her new team the following day.

Ino took the scroll and went inside. She summoned her mask and gear and began to decorate it. She drew a daylily on the part of the mask just under the right ear. As she painted she lost herself and soon she had an entire vine on her mask.

"Uh…I hope that isn't too much," she scoffed. Looking at it she smiled and then started to laugh.

* * *

Ino stood in her full uniform with her two new comrades and their captain. When he had shown Ino around he had been personable, now as most ANBU he was stoic and only spoke to order them. They were brought into the level of HQ where the Intelligence commander, Manju Oyama, located her vast collection of data. Ino waited patiently with a magazine in her lap as they saw members higher up the chain of command enter and leave. 

After what seemed like hours Oyama's assistant motioned for them to come in. when they entered Ino saw the entire room was filled with filing cabinets. Her assistant had only a rolling chair so she could move from one to the other.

Oyama herself was sitting behind a small desk with three files open. She appeared to be reading all of them at the same time. Ino saw one of the files was her own. She concluded the other two were hew new teammates'.

Oyama looked up and nodded before she closed the files, arranged them in some order, and placed them to the left side of her desk. "Hello, I am Manju Oyama, commander of the Intelligence Division of Konoha ANBU Special Operations. You three have been chosen for a special training mission. Because you have the highest scores on record from the last five years of applicants to our division you have been given this assignment."

She took a file from the _right_ side of her desk and opened it. "There is a small castle containing a very important scroll. You will be part of a two-team squad that shall go for this mission. Your part will be case the castle and its perimeter. Afterward you are to scout inside. Once all information has been taken you will report to the second squad that will then infiltrate the castle and retrieve the scroll.

"I must warn there will be shinobi guarding the scroll. Because we intercepted the information early they won't be high level or on high alert. But do not be reckless! Information can be retrieved at anytime if stolen; your lives cannot be returned to you after they have been taken. Do you understand your mission?"

In unison all three new recruits stood at attention. "YES OYAMA-SAN!"

* * *

Ino's teammates were two ANBU who had transferred to the division early on in their careers. The formal introductions would wait until after the mission. For now they would follow the commands of their captain. 

Nyosai, her captain, met with the captain of the other team and led both groups to the outer boundaries of a small country framed by the Lands of Wind and Earth.

The castle itself was massive, a testament of Daimyos of old. It was fifteen levels, three hidden underground. Ino saw right away the normal soldiers, or trained guards, used dogs. On their first run by she also took note of the many native birds. She made note of when and where they flew.

When they regrouped one of the teammates, who wore a cat mask, informed them there was a chance it would rain that night. The captains looked at each other and Nyosai went off to check.

"Alright Yamanaka-san what did you see?" the remaining captain asked. Ino nodded and recounted the descriptions of local wildlife, flora, the water source of the castle, the guards and their dogs. She laid out a suspected change in shifts on a grid using a spare scroll. Sometime during the discussion Nyosai returned.

He reviewed what Ino had told the others before the final member revealed several hidden storage rooms with access tunnels to the lower levels of the castle. Ino wondered if he was a Hyuuga.

"Good…here's the plan. As soon as darkness falls there will be two teams. I will go with Yamanaka-san. We will infiltrate the kennel just before the change in the guard. Yamanaka-san will possess one of the dogs and I will create a shadow doppelganger of it. I will escape with her and her body and wait until the guards pass one of the storage rooms with a tunnel leading to the main tower of the castle. She will locate a safe entryway, devoid of observational systems and guards to allow entry for the other members of our team.

"After we are in we will then do a quick trip to the security office where the main guards and security system control is. Once we have located the most direct route to the scroll Yamanaka-san, whose body along with one other member of my team will be with your team, will release herself from control of the dog and report back to your team Hokai-kun."

The other captain nodded, "Our team will then take that route and quietly dispatch any guards. No fatalities unless I give the order. After we have reached the holding room for the scroll we will take it and leave via the entry route. Yes?"

One of Nyosai's team raised his hand. "What if other guards find the unconscious guards sir? Shouldn't we find another route?"

Nyosai and Hokai smiled behind their masks. "Correct," Nyosai said. "After Yamanaka-san reports to you and you enter the building she and Hasuki-san will keep watch near the exit location we will transmit over our radios," he said revealing eight.

Once the members of both teams had been given their radios and assignments they waited until nightfall. During that time Hasuki crouched near Ino and said hello. "Are you nervous?" he asked.

She looked at him behind her mask, "A little. The mission sort of relies on me…a little." She laughed.

"Some people fault clans for having family jutsus, the Uchiha and Hyuuga being two of the few who aren't, because of how they base their entire styles on them. I know a few people who call them crutch techniques…" he scoffed.

"You're a Hyuuga right?" Ino asked. He looked at her and then made a quick glance around. He lifted his mask and moved it so she could see his silver right eye. She also saw a line on his forehead. She guessed it was part of the "bird cage seal" of the branch family.

"Yes. Yes I am. I heard a member of the Yamanaka clan had gotten into the intelligence division after her _first_ test. That is very impressive. I also heard you used your _hair_ to trap an enemy in your first chunin exam," he said. Ino blushed under her mask. He was obviously impressed with things she thought weren't very impressive at all. He regarded her for a second and then leaned against the tree. "Do you know Uzumaki Naruto?" he asked after a few minutes.

Ino was silent then she said, "Yes he's my best friend's…" she thought of the word. After an internal argument she said the word on her mind, "lover."

Hasuki nodded. "He's a friend of my second cousin. I see him around a lot. I always thought he was an idiot…but then he…made things better…"

"What do you mean?" Ino asked. Of course she knew. Everyone within the Rookie Nine (teams Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma) knew that Naruto made Neji see how he was wrong and also had helped Hinata out of her shell.

"He made Neji-sama see things differently. Enough so there is now a greater sense of harmony in the family…" Hasuki looked at the branch he was sitting on. "Your friend what kind of woman is she?" he asked.

Ino laughed a little, "Why the interest in me?" she asked.

"I _am_ a member of the _Information_ division," he replied. As Ino was about to reply there was a bird whistle. It was from Nyosai. The two quickly moved to the origin of the sound and crouched down with their leaders.

"Is everyone ready?" Nyosai asked. The six rookie ANBU nodded. "Alright. Yamanaka-san! Let's go!"

"Yes sir!" she and Nyosai dashed off into the night just as the rain clouds began to gather.

* * *

Ino felt a rush of excitement as she moved through the compound in 'her' new canine body. She made her way to the fifth level of the complex, smelling far too many guards on the lower levels, and opened the door with her nose. She looked around quickly and sniffed the air gently, no one around. 

She headed to a storage room and saw a small window. "_Even is this body that would be a tight fit,_" she thought. She once again checked for anyone in the vicinity and headed for another window. As she passed a room she smelled fresh air, along with the leaves from trees in the courtyard. She used her teeth to open the door and saw a large open window. She smelled the remnants of cigarette smoke. Ashes on the floor told the tale.

She moved to the window and looked out, no guards were directly below her at that point. As she was about to signal, using a special scent bomb she had been given, she heard voices. She found a small desk and dashed under it as two young men entered the room.

"I tell ya this is pathetic. We have a '_scroll of magnificent value_' and we can't even get real ninja to guard it." The voice was followed by the click of a lighter. The smoker returns.

"Think about it man, these kids may look like nothing but they could kick your ass into next week," his friend replied.

"Genin? Gimmie a break. My sister was a ninja and she couldn't kick rotten _wood_ until she became a chunin." He paused as he inhaled and exhaled a cloud of blue smoke, "But we are looking after a rotten piece of parchment here man. That thing may be what? Two, three hundred years old? Who knows if anyone can still read it?"

His friend sighed loudly, "Whether anyone can read it or not isn't the point! You heard those jounin talking! It supposedly is dangerous for even a _novice_ ninja to get their hands on it. I wouldn't be surprised if there are ninja planning to steal it_ right this minute_!" he said.

Ino tensed and hid herself in the shadows of the desk. It had a back to it so they couldn't see her, but she made sure they couldn't hear her either. "Whatever man…aw shit! Our break's over. I got caught up talking to you and I wasted my cig break!"

"Close the window man," his friend scoffed as they headed out.

"No way! Smells like those damn drug dogs in here! At least the trees get a bath now and again," the door closed and Ino took a moment to sniff the dog's fur. He was right, it did smell bad.

She took her chance and let the bomb go off. at this height the dogs wouldn't smell it and the humans who left didn't have the noses for it. Within minutes Nyosai and the last member of their team were there. Nyosai nodded to her and landed next to her. As he was about to move she bit his hand and tugged.

"What is it Yamanaka?" he asked with a bit of annoyance. She pointed her nose at his extra scrolls and ink. He unrolled a blank piece and gave her a wet brush. She quickly wrote out the information she had acquired. "Two jounin at least with genin. That means two teams of rookies on a training mission to guard the scroll…" he thought for a minute. "Alright let's go!" he took a small tin of water and splashed it on the scent bomb to keep the jounin from catching wind of it.

They made their way, two men and one dog, down the hall. They went up another three floors and found the security office nearly empty. Only three guards. Nyosai made two Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clones) and easily knocked them out. He placed a binding jutsu on them and then tied them with the other ANBU's help. He put his hand to his radio headset and spoke to Hokai.

"We're in the security office. Prepare to Yamanaka. Radio silence form this moment." Nyosai looked at the screens showing the layout of the castle. The scroll, if their location was correct, was located on the first floor, hidden in a secret room. He made a quick glance and then found it. There was an area on the map made to look like a sealed in wall, but was far too large to be anything but a room. He pointed it out to Ino and then related the route to her. She nodded the dog's head and prepared to release.

Nyosai and the other ANBU muzzled her dog body with rope and tied her legs. She nodded and released herself from the dog. Immediately she was sitting on a branch with Hokai and Hasuki by her. She quickly relayed the information and Hokai went with his team, Ino and Hasuki in toe, to the castle. Ino and the young Hyuuga waited.

"So two teams right?" Hasuki asked.

"Yeah," Ino said. She kept her eyes open. The young Hyuga probably was keeping _his_ open as well.

"What village do you think?" he asked.

"We're closer to the Earth country than the Wind…could be," as she was about to finish her thought an alarm was raised. Ino and Hasuki crouched lower in the tree they were hiding in and watched as the guards headed toward the doors and secret entrances.

Ino's radio crackled to life, "_This is Hokai! We have retrieved the scroll over! In pursuit by single Kunoichi over! Village indeterminable over! Fight or fall back over?_"

Nyosai's voice came next, "_Do _not _engage! We must not be seen! They must not know our village copy? _They must not know our village!_ Fall back! all units take escape routes! I repeat take separate escape routes!_"

Ino and Hasuki looked at each other. Hasuki quickly turned his head back to the compound and made the signs for his family signature technique. As he saw the group of their ninja escape he saw something that made him stop. "We have to go…NOW!" he said as he grabbed Ino's arm and pulled her away.

"What did you see?" she asked as she ran. He let go of her arm and turned his head back to her.

"The ninja following ours was able to block her presence! She is very powerful we must go now!" he said again as he raced on.

Their radios crackled to life. "_Hyuuga, Yamanaka! The enemy is after you! I repeat the enemy is after you copy!! She is gaining quickly! Do _not_ I repeat_ do not_ fight her! Run!_" Nyosai roared over the radio.

"Hasuki! How far away is she!" Ino asked. He made signs again.

He gasped, "Twenty meters!" he cried. Ino took a large gulp of air. "We must hurry!" as he was about to run a large roll of earth flew by them. "Hidden Stone!" he cried.

Ino looked back and saw a second stone she narrowly avoided it by dropping to a lower level in the trees. "_All units beware! I left a motion trigger! The other jounin is following! I repeat! The second jounin is coming!_"

"SHE'S HERE!" Hasuki cried. Ino let out a scream as the tree she was in topple. As Hasuki cried out his name a third stone flew aftert him. Ino leapt into the bushes by the fallen tree and lowered the volume on her radio.

"Hasuki! Get out of here! I'll hold her off and try and possess her! That way I can give you time to regroup!"

The radio reply was too low for her to hear. She waited a few seconds before deciding he had left. She quickly rolled away from the tree and slid her body up another one. She tried to see her enemy, but she was hidden well. Ino took the chance to climb up the tree to get a better vantage point.

Immediately she caught a glimpse of the ninja, but a flash of lightning close to her blinded her. The next thing a stunned Ino knew was she was being swung around. She cried out and landed hard on the ground. Rain pelted her mask and she barely heard the sound of a crashing tree. She rolled and leapt back to avoid being crushed.

Rain fell harder against her as she hid in the tall grass. She panted softly and tried to regain her sight. After three crucial seconds that were hours of helplessness she could make out shapes. She saw two strong legs standing just at the edge of her vision. She kept her breathing steady, but took longer, slower breaths.

"_She's right there. I know it's her…I just need one chance._" Ino remembered her sword. She raised her arm and drew it as slowly and quietly as humanly possible. The enemy ninja moved with trained care to the left, closer to Ino's position. If Ino didn't move or act now she would be found by being stepped on.

Ino suddenly felt the rain. It had been raining since her first big fall and she was soaked. The normal black and dark of her armor was no covered in mud. She herself was covered in mud. Her enemy wasn't. she made a swift slow move. The elegance of her movement would be the envy of any assassin. She didn't hesitate. After years of fighting against criminals like Akatsuki and even Orochimaru she knew no enemy would hesitate with her.

She struck, quickly, efficiently. Her medical ninja kill telling her the exact place to pierce her enemy's back and tear through their lung, and their heard. The blade snagged the bitch's rib and crashed off of it down ward. Ino stood toe-to-heel with her first kill as an ANBU.

As she relished the blood lust, as all ninja do from time to time, she felt horror rise in her soul. A flash of lightning crashed through the night sky. It hit a tree a few meters away from them. The tree caught on fire and filled the darkness of the small battlefield with bright burning light. A red battle ready blouse, a longer than average, but still tight miniskirt, and a pair of shin guards with high heeled zori (traditional Japanese sandals).

What made Ino's heart wrench was the hair. Long pink tresses fell down the back of her enemy and were matted to her back by her own blood and the rain. Tears fell down Ino's face and from under her mask. She let the sword go and the body fell forward. A sickening sliding sound accompanied the blade hitting the ground first and being pushed out of her.

When she was face down Ino removed the blade and turned her over tenderly. The face of Sakura was serene. Calm, almost sleeplike. "Oh my god…what have I done…Sakura…why…did…oh god!"

Ino held her face and started to rock back and forth. She gathered Chakra and tried to heal the wound. She was coughed and watched as the jutsu dispelled. She didn't have enough chakra. Being in the dog so long…

"Ino?" Sakura's voice, horrifyingly weak asked.

"Yes…Sakura I…I can't heal you…I…I…oh god!" Ino shook violently. She ripped her mask off and vomited to the side. She gagged after a few minutes of painful retching and finally composed herself to look at Sakura's face.

"You…were the…" she gasped and blood trickled from the corners of her mouth, "intruder?"

"My…" Ino gasped and shuddered, "Team…my first mission…" she was almost alright.

"He's…coming"

"What?" Ino asked. She was so weak. Her voice so soft…she could barely hear her. Ino leaned in and held her ear over Sakura's mouth.

"Naruto…he's coming…" Ino's eyes widened. Fear filled her belly. She looked at Sakura and quickly grabbed her mask and put it on.

The sound of a voice alerted her to how much time had passed. They had to have been here for twenty minutes. The fire started long ago, years it seemed to Ino, had begun to die down because the rain had gotten much worse. She stood, but Sakura raised a hand to her. Ino fell to her knees once again.

"Sakura…I'm so sorry…please…" she took the hand. It was so cold. It was so, so cold. "Forgive me…" the flower covered rabbit mask looked down lifelessly at her. Sakura smiled. She could no longer speak. She mouthed the words, "I do."

Her hand slipped from Ino's grasp. As it did she heard a strong wild voice call out drastically, "SAKURA-CHAN!"

Ino stood to go and looked down at Sakura. Her sword, covered in Sakura's blood, lay in the wet grass. The area around it dull burgundy. Ino bent to pick it up as footsteps splashed closer. She quickly dashed away just was a blond haired young man entered the clearing.

He gasped at the form of the woman in the field.

By the time Naruto made his way to Sakura's body and found she was dead, Ino was dozens of meters away. He pulled her corpse into his arms and cradled her for a few seconds, rocking back and forth as Ino had. Finally he screamed.

Letting loose all the fury, rage, and despair within him Naruto screamed. The Kyuubi roared with him and the sound echoed throughout the forest. It was a horrid sound, filled with sadness and loss. The sound of ultimate suffering.

Ino remembered it all the way back to her regroup point.

The other members, hearing the sound and seeing Ino, covered in blood and filth, did not ask. They knew. Hokai explained he had seen a genin from their village and found that Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto were watching over a team of Genin while their current leader was away on a secret mission.

They had not had all the information they needed.

Ino didn't speak until they returned to Konohagakure four days later.

* * *

MountainWind here! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter in my Drama! This one is filled with excitement! Angst! And Revenge! Will Ino be killed for her murder? Will Naruto be the one to kill her? Will Konoha be the same? Will Naruto be the same? 

Find out in chapter 2…!


	2. The Victim

Chapter 2

Entering Konoha was like walking to the gallows. Ino was immediately rushed by two medical ANBU. They escorted her from the secret entrance to the village to the route normally hidden from anyone but medical team staff. She was put into a large room by herself where she was treated for temporary blindness, broken ribs, bruised bones, and several large scrapes.

As they worked on her she could only think of what she had done. How even though she had wanted to Sakura had never said she forgave her. It shook Ino's soul to know her fate.

After three hours of healing and seven hours of rest Ino was escorted to a waiting room where the rest of her team was. Hasuki and the third member nodded to her. The room was large, one made for presentations with a large projector and screen on one side of the room. The other three were lined with seats. Ino sat down across from the door, beside the screen, while Hasuki and the other member sat on the left wall, close to the corner. As she was about to ask what was going on Nyosai burst into the room, Oyama's assistant hot on his heels.

"I'LL HAVE YOUR CAPTAIN'S STRIPES FOR THIS!" she roared. Nyosai was ignoring her. He had removed his mask and had a grim look on his face. "You incompetent fool! I told you not to take rookies for this mission! Now look what's happened there's going to be an investigation into this and _you_ had to fuck it up by-"

"STOP RIGHT THERE! BITCH!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. The three rookies leaned back in their seats. The calm and somewhat emotionless Nyosai of the mission and the happy friendly Nyosai of training was gone. This Nyosai was a warrior, bound only by the _name_ of Ninja. "_You_ forgot to inform _me_ of the personnel involved. How the fuck was _I_ supposed to know that the damn team leader was given a mission of diplomacy and the fuckin' apprentice of the Hokage was going to be in charge of guardig the damn thing instead!"

The assistant glared daggers at him. She was about to retort when Oyama herself walked in. "QUIET! This is not the time for arguing. Hokage-sama, _herself,_ is here to evaluate this mission and the unfortunate events that have taken place. She is in my office reviewing your reports right now. When she is ready we will go to give an oral report, that includes you Yamanaka," Oyama said looking straight at Ino.

Ino shook visibly. Oyama raised an eyebrow and lifted her mask. "Yamanaka-san?" Hasuki asked as he moved from the corner seat to the one next to her. "Are you okay?"

Ino screamed. The sound was loud in the room and made the higher ups cover their ears. When she had finished she buried her mask-less face in her hands. She was quiet for a few seconds before she began to sob openly. Oyama looked from her assistant to Nyosai. She then had a look of realization on her face. The commander of the Testing and Evaluation division had told her Ino's motivation was her best friend and rival, Haruno Sakura.

The woman she had killed.

As Oyama was about to say something the doors opened to reveal Shizune. Her face was sad and her eyes were red. She had been crying. "Hokage-sama will see Oyama-san, Nyosai-san and…" Shizune's eyes moved to Ino. The young woman felt a great sadness from her, but Shizune felt no pity. "Yamanaka-san now."

Oyama told her assistant to get the reports from the other two members and then went to follow Shizune. Nyosai walked over to Ino and helped her stand. He led her out the door and after the two women. Hasuki watched her go sadly.

* * *

Tsunade was in a large replica of her office in Konoha. It had been made shortly after the creation of the ANBU to make sure the Hokage would have a familiar environment at the hub of her special forces. She was now reading the report from Nyosai.

Things had gone smoothly up until one genin had to piss. He saw the group of ANBU just in time to alert the two jounin watching the other rookies. Sakura had gone to protect the scroll while Naruto had gone to get the kid. She had arrived in time to see the theft and follow after them. Upon leaving the compound grounds she was alerted to two ninja fleeing from the western edge of the castle.

She changed her target from recapturing the scroll to acquiring a hostage and possible informant. She had been killed by her best friend in an exchange.

Bad business. Tsunade had cried when she first saw Sakura's body, brought in by a blood covered and wet Naruto. He was in worse shape than her corpse was. He had brought her back without food and a minimum of water thinking she, Tsunade, could save the girl, not knowing she had been dead two or more days. And as Sakura's body sat in their morgue to be processed and disposed of…god what a horrible way of saying it…the ANBU team who screwed it all up waltz in.

Tsunade let herself get angry. Furious even. Sakura had been like a daughter to her, she had kept Naruto alive through all of the shit that had happened around him. And now because someone forgot to tell the damn captain…

Her anger faded. Sadness filled it. Then that too faded and was replaced by the calm needed to look at this situation and make the best of it. She only wished there was another choice than the one before her.

"Tsunade-sama, they are here," her secretary said over the small intercom only Tsunade kmew of. Tsunade allowed them in. Shizune quickly opened the doors and made her way to her mistress. Ino was led in by Nyosai.

"…You may sit," Tsunade said. Ino didn't sit; she fell into a large sofa like chair in front of the desk. Nyosai and Oyama saw that the invitation was not meant for them. Tsunade took a deep calming breath and looked at the pathetic girl. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Tea…" she whispered. Shizune responded at once. She moved to a small machine and pressed a button to start it. Within minutes Ino was sipping the warm tea. It had barely any taste, but she wanted the heat. She felt cold.

Like Sakura's hand.

Ino shook so bad she had to hold her tea with both hands and abandon the saucer on the table between two of the three the chairs. "If you can tell me what happened," Tsunade offered after several minutes.

"We…" Ino took a large drink of tea. "We were given the mission to acquire a scroll of great importance-"

"No Ino," Tsunade interrupted. "Tell me what happened with Sakura. Why did you attack her?"

Ino drank the last of her tea. "I…I thought she was an enemy. I guessed Iwa-nin (Stone Ninja). She threw boulders and big rocks so…"

Tsunade glared up at Oyama. The younger of the two Kunoichi was looking at her feet moving her toes in her zori. She returned her glance to Ino, "Why did you stay to fight when Nyosai, your captain, ordered a retreat?"

"I…I knew she would catch up. Plus we heard the other was after us. I decided to use the Shintensen to possess the enemy ninja," her voice cracked. "I would then kill or capture her comrade under the guise of her…" she sniffed. "But…after two or three exchanges she pinned me. Lightning had struck close and I could barely see. I…I cut her with my sword…and I…I…"

"What did you do Ino?" Tsunade asked gently. Ino had been looking into her cup. She now looked at Shizune, and saw that pity had wormed its way into her eyes. She saw Oyama, a look of fear on her face for some reason. She saw Nyosai, his face full of some unreadable emotion. And finally she saw Tsunade, accepting she made a mistake. All she had to do was admit to it.

"I KILLED HER!" she screamed. Spittle flew from her lips. "I killed _Sakura! My best friend! I _killed_ her!"_ she cried. Tsunade stood at once and moved to the young woman she embraced her and held her head.

"Calm down Ino. It's alright." After several long moments of Ino's loud crying subsiding into sobs and finally muffled hiccups Tsunade let go of her and returned to her chair. She took out a folder and looked it over. "Yamanaka Ino."

"Yes Godaime Hokage-sama," Ino looked at her directly. She was ready to hear when her trial would be, when she would be killed. She didn't care if she had a trial or not. She had done the unthinkable. She had killed Sakura.

"After you have one last check up you may return home. You will receive new orders within the next week or so. Will you be ready to carry out your next mission?" Tsunade asked.

Ino gaped at her. Her face wide and gaunt. "You…are serious? This isn't a joke or game?" Ino asked.

Tsunade looked at the folder and sighed. She interlocked her fingers and let them rest on the open papers. "No. It is not a game Ino. The scroll Hokai's team stole was one from the days before the five villages. It was made by my grandfather's shinobi master. Inside were many powerful and forbidden techniques. It was given to that castle's lord long ago for safekeeping. The old fool's great grandson inherited the castle and with that all its contents ten years ago.

"He has been making bids to sell the scroll to us for years. Thankfully when he attempted to send an offer to the Hidden Mist we intercepted the message and sent one of our own back."

"But why aren't you arresting me for _murdering Sakura_!" Ino cried.

Tsunade looked at the desk and then back at Ino, "All five ninja villages know of the scroll. There has been tension about it for a long time Ino. Several attempts were made in the past to steal it, but only during War when such acts were considered normal. Now since there is a type of truce taking the scroll would be considered an action of building an arm. Or a declaration against those that _didn't_ steal the scroll.

"With that fool trying to sell the damn thing we could lose it to other villages, the best case scenario being Hidden Sand, who we are good terms with. Can you imagine what would happen if the scroll fell into the hands of the Hidden Mist? Or worse yet a criminal like Orochimaru or Akatsuki?"

Ino couldn't believe her ears. They had done this whole thing as a set up! "So…to make it look like we didn't steal the scroll we agreed to guard it against common thieves when he believed Mist representatives were coming to buy it outright?" she asked.

"Correct," Tsunade answered. "This mission, your involvement, and the actions of both teams must be a complete and utter secret. If we were to put you on trial we would have to have a cause. Even if we made an in depth hoax, those who looked long enough and hard enough would see through it.

"If the village were to punish you for your crime Ino we would be plunged into war. A great war with all other villages against us. Your guilt is of no consequence when the safety of the village is in question. Do you understand?"

Ino looked at her. Her eyes darted around the room. She could barely believe what was happening. The fact she had killed Sakura made the illusion of some third party stealing the scroll seem more real. And because of it she could not be punished. At all for a crime she had committed.

"I said," Tsunade, barked loudly, "Do you understand ANBU Private Yamanaka Ino?"

Ino lowered her head more. Her answer was barely more than a whisper, "Yes ma'am."

Tsunade leaned back in her chair and nodded, "Good. You are also forbidden to speak about this mission again, even to those who participated. You may go. The same for you Nyosai." The captain nodded and helped Ino up before he set her cup down on its saucer. As the commander was about to leave Tsunade spoke up, "Oyama, you stay…" she snarled. Oyama stiffened and faced her superior.

As Ino was about to leave Tsunade gave her a last bit of advice, "If you want to be punished Ino, commit a crime we _can _keep a record of." Ino nodded and left the room.

Outside Nyosai heard the rage Tsunade had kept in check in front of the traumatized Yamanaka. He looked at her and put a hand on her shoulder. "You have to move past it Yamanaka. Things like this happen in the world of ninja. There was a chance it was meant to happen…"

Ino whirled and slapped him so hard he tumbled to the floor. "SHUT UP! SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!" she screamed. "Meant to happen?! _Meant to happen_?!" she screeched. "Are you saying some divine power ordained for me to _murder my best friend?!_"

He wiped blood from his cut lip and stood up with the aid of a chair. "You aren't being punished are you? If you forget about her and work it out in your heart you won't live with the guilt." He walked past her and stopped by the elevator, "The best penance is always given by the criminal's heart."

Ino cursed under her breath as he left. She stood alone in the hallway listening to Tsunade's anger. The words were muffled to badly to understand her, but the meaning was clear. Oyama hadn't told them something and because of it Sakura was dead. It was her fault.

Except it wasn't. It was Ino's fault. All hers. And _she_ would pay the price one day. She knew it. She just knew it…

* * *

As Ino stalked home she didn't notice anything. Everything was either dark red or blazing black. Every young girl was Sakura's face, blood trickling down the corners of her mouth like joker paint. Every young man was Naruto rage bellowing from his face, conflicting and merging with his sadness.

Every old man and woman was death waggling their fingers at her. "_Ninjas kill their comrades every day_," he reminded her. "_And now you've just given your _own_ village a reason to make you a statistic!_" The Noh mask on his face smiled and let out a horrendous laugh.

Ino turned her head back to the road and found her apartment. She walked up the steps and tried the doorknob. It was locked, and her keys were in her locker at ANBU headquarters. She cursed and looked for the scroll, which was also inside her locker. As she was about to turn the door opened and the face of her mother appeared from the gloom of her home.

"INO! Oh thank god you're back! I heard terrible news! Ino come inside Ino…come inside!" her mother pulled her arm and dragged her to Ino's small living room. "Ino…sit down dear," Her father was in the kitchen making a pot of tea. "Ino…it's about Sakura…"

"Sakura?" Ino asked looking at her mother, her face blank. The older woman, born to be a florist and never a ninja, looked away and ran to her husband's arms. Ino watched her until she had to turn her body to follow. She slumped over and held her face in her hands.

Her father, Inoichi, nodded to his wife and directed her to the pot of boiling tea before he saw to his daughter. He entered the small living room and pulled a chair to sit down across from her. He took a deep breath. His daughter was obviously distraught, most likely from hearing the news beforehand or seeing the body.

They, the bodies of all Konoha ninja, were taken to ANBU headquarters to be prepared for disposal. The chances Ino saw Sakura's corpse, were very good.

"Ino," he said softly. "Sakura was…killed on a mission several days ago. Her body was-"

"I know," Ino interrupted. "I killed her."

Her father blinked, "what did you say Ino?"

She looked at her father, her eyes moist. Tears gushed from their corners and pooled on her knees. "I KILLED SAKURA!" she screamed. She fell into a hysterical bout of sobbing. Her father held her and waited for her to stop crying and explain.

It took an hour for Ino to finish crying again before she was able to tell her father everything. Her mother, after seeing the look on Inoichi's face, did not try to overhear. Florists could tell Ninjas everything, but ninjas can tell florists nothing. When Ino had finished her father led her up to her room and helped her out of the heavy jounin uniform she had been dressed in to see Tsunade.

He laid her down on her bed and tucked her in like he did before she became a trainee at the academy. He gazed down at her, her eyes blank and staring, her face gaunt, and petted her hair. He let her sleep and then left the room.

Ino did not sleep. She had merely closed her eyes so her father would leave. The trick had worked dozens of times in the past. Of course she didn't want to talk about things like her feminine hygiene with her mother or boys with her father.

She had just gone against a direct order from the Hokage by telling her father the particulars of her mission. Of Sakura's death. Of how Ino's horrid crime had helped Konoha avoid a total, all-out WAR.

And it was all bullshit.

Ino had killed her comrade. Shinobi law, never mind her pride, dictated immediate suicide. Death of a comrade was common in the world of ninja, death by your own hand was reserved to hunters and missing Nins. It could have been avoided. If Ino had waited for her vision to clear. If she had not been so eager.

If. If, if, if, FUCKING IF!

She rolled into a fetal position and cried. When her sobs threatened to get to loud she grabbed her pillow and muffled them with it. Her thighs ground together, her toes curled and her hands became claws as she tried to forget. Tried to get the image of Sakura's body out of her mind.

But she couldn't. It was there. And it had taken up a residence.

* * *

The next week went by in a blur for Ino. From the time she came home and told her father everything to Naruto's visit, she remembered only minor things. The first four days had consisted of being brought breakfast and lunch and dragging her weakened body out of bed for a bad tasting dinner.

The tedium was broken on the third day. By Naruto.

He walked up the steps and knocked on the door. Ino's mother answered and when she saw his face she broke down and hugged him. "Naruto! I'm so sorry!"

Ino could hear them because her room overlooked her tiny porch, and she had opened her window to let in some fresh air. "Thank you Yamanaka-san," Naruto said, very reserved. Ino was surprised. He surely knew what she had done. Didn't he?

Tsunade had been adamant to her about not telling. There was a chance the thing would be kept secret from Naruto as well. That thought chilled her to the bone.

"Is Ino here?" he asked from below.

"Yes…but…she's not doing well Naruto. Would you like to come in and wait for her? She may get up to see a friendly face?" her mother offered.

"Wouldn't we all?" Naruto asked. "Sorry Yamanaka-san, but I have to hurry. Here, this is from Haruno Hana-san."

"Sakura's mother? Oh…yes. Thank you Naruto. Please take care." The door closed and Naruto leapt by the window. Ino had stayed in her bed through the entire exchange. Her adept ninja hearing alerted her to her Mother's immediate movement to the stairs and to her room. "Ino-chan?" her mother asked knocking lightly on the door.

"Come in," Ino said. Her mother opened the door and held up a small black envelope. "What is it?" Ino asked. To her it looked like execution orders.

"It's," she bit her lower lip, "the invitation to Sakura's funeral…"

Ino sat up and looked at it. She held her arm out half way and then stopped. Then accepted the letter. Shaking she took the fabric, which felt like fine felt under Ino's fingers. She popped the string tie and pulled the simple invitation out.

"_This invitation is to the funeral of Haruno Sakura, Konoha Kunoichi, which will be held this Sunday. It will be in the hours from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm._"

Ino didn't even realize she was crying until a few stray drops hit the paper. She shook her head and let the letter drop to the bed. "Momma…?" Ino asked quietly.

"Yes Ino-chan?"

"I…" she took a large gulp of air. "Need a black dress…"

* * *

In Konohagakure Ninja are given no funerals. High ranked Shinobi, or very popular or powerful warriors will have large gatherings of friends and allies. Normally these are for the living entirely as there is no body to view, by the time a funeral has been organized the body has been disposed of by the ANBU.

There is a formal ceremony held one week after the shinobi's death, regardless of attendance, at the Hokage Building. If the family wishes for another ceremony they can ask for funding for the gravestone. Since this is a rare occasion held mainly by families with only one or two ninja most families who ask get the funds.

Now, this Sunday, the Haruno family stands before a bodiless grave. Hana and her husband stand to the left of the small gravestone. The main host of those present had come for Naruto; they are his comrades who recognize him as a powerful ninja. They came to help him through the loss. All attendees were wearing normal civillian clothes. Shades of black to contrast the deep red of the carpet provdided to stand on for the gravside service.

As unsurprised as the group, consisting of the rookie nine as well as Gai's team, to see Ino, they were equally surprised to see a certain raven haired ANBU captain make his rise over the hill toward the grave. In his wake was Naruto his head low, his eyes downcast.

Sasuke led his rival up to the small carpet walkway placed down by the funeral home before stepping off and letting Naruto walk up to the gravestone. On the top were Sakura's headband and a picture of her. He didn't stop until his feet rested against the step that was made from the stone coming from the grass. He fell to his knees. They scrapped against the stone and tore his pants and the skin under the black fabric, but he showed no sign of caring.

They were only pants, and the Kyuubi inside him assured him of fresh skin on his knees within minutes.

"Sakura-chan…" he whispered. "I'm so sorry. I swore I would protect you. Every time. From everything. Even if it was me…and then someone killed you. Because I wasn't fast enough." He put his hand on the stone and dug his fingers into it. His rage became evident. Emotion flooded his aura and filled the small area. Sakura's parents took a wavering step away from the stone as they saw deep gashes form from Naruto's nails. "I swear…" he hissed through growing fangs, "That I will find the one who killed you. No matter their village. No matter who they are. No matter what they represent. Even if they were someone just like me. I will find them and I. Will DESTROY THEM!" he screamed.

He panted. Taking his hand from the grave he pounded on it with his fists. His despair escaped. He screamed. The stone began to break. Cracks appeared on it. The picture at the top of the stone trembled and threatened to fall over many times before Sasuke put his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Naruto…you need to calm down. You're breaking her grave," he said softly.

"Yeah…I know…Sasuke-_kun_," the honorific was spat out like poison. Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand and stood up, twisting his body as he did so pulling Sasuke close. "When the _fuck_ did you ever care about _her_ Sasuke!" Naruto pushed him.

The young Uchiha was caught off guard so badly he fell back to the ground. "This isn't the time Naruto. Sakura wouldn't want us fighting over her." He held himself up with his hands and tried to stand.

Naruto's foot connected with Sasuke's jaw at such a speed it made a sickening crack. "NEVER SAY HER NAME AGAIN!" he bellowed. "If you do Sasuke I'll rip your snakey tongue OUT!" he roared. Sasuke glared at him. The spark was there. Even if it meant disgracing himself Sasuke would fight Naruto on her grave. No chance to fight Naruto when he was empassioned escaped Sasuke. He activated his Sharingan.

Seeing this Neji and Lee leapt into action. Lee grabbed Sasuke and pulled him to his feet before pushing him into Kiba, who swung their bodies around and began to inform Sasuke of the health ramifications of being near Naruto at this moment in time. Neji went to his friend and put a hand on the front of his shoulder and spoke to Naruto softly.

"_Damn I thought would get some exercise_," Sasuke thought. He moved past Ino and the smirk, to keep the air of arrogance around himself dropped.

"What's going on?" the commanding voice of Tsunade called as she and Jiraya appeared on the carpet. She saw Naruto, several steps shy of becoming a tailed fox form, and the blood running out of Sasuke's mouth. "Uchiha! Uzumaki are you causing trouble…_HERE_?!" she screeched.

"No ma'am," Sasuke said. "Just helping Naruto vent some steam…" he walked past her. "Call me if you need a shoulder to cry on Naruto, I'll always be there," he made a chilling tribute to Orochimaru's laugh and left the cemetery in a flash of smoke.

"Bastard!" Naruto said, his eyes following Sasuke's untraceable movements flawlessly.

He strained against Neji's hands. "Naruto-kun. Stop. It was a taunt. He's trying to aggravate you."

"Guess what Neji?" Naruto asked glaring into Neji's silver eyes, "He fucking succeeded." As he looked at Neji he saw Rock Lee and Tenten behind him. Then he saw the others, including Konohamaru and his friends. Naruto blinked and let his body relax. Naruto's anger faded when he remembered where he was. He looked around and felt complete shame. He turned back to Sakura's parents and lowered his eyes. "Hana-san…I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I-"

She shook her head, "You don't have to apologize Naruto." They, like most of the parents of his friends, had accepted he was not a reincarnation of the demon fox. But the look in her eyes was one of slight fear. Naruto turned to the stone monument. It was in ruins. He cursed under his breath and pulled out of Neji's grasp.

"I'll…pay for a new one," he said at last. He turned toward the stone again and laid his palms on the now uneven top. One on either side of Sakura's headband and picture.

It showed her in a light red kimono. She was smiling and holding something. Naruto knew what it was, it was his arm. He had a copy of the same picture beside his bedside table. When the picture was taken he dared those in the village who had a bone to pick with him to break in. normally he left those thieves and vandals with sprains or mere scratches.

If they hurt her picture when she was alive he would have taken an arm. Now…there would be no mercy. His home, which held many of Sakura's things, was forbidden territory. A cold calm floated over Naruto. He clenched his fingers and balled them into fists. He did this in such a way his knuckles cracked one by one.

"I'm going home." _I have barriers to put up_ he added within his mind. "Hana-san do you want me to give Sakura's things to you?" he asked.

She smiled sadly and shook her head. "No keep them. We'll see you when the will is read so things you have now may be yours by her right."

He nodded. Then Naruto made his way out. He gave a few smiles and words to Tsunade and Jiraya before he walked down the path. Ino had stiffened as Tsunade walked by and had relaxed when the elder ninja had not even glanced her way. Now, as Naruto stalked past her, she felt fear grip her insides.

Yet, as scared as she was, she wanted him to strike her. To show someone truly cared enough to take revenge for Sakura.

Naruto stalked by. He stopped a few feet behind her and turned. "Ino…I wanted to talk to you when I gave you the invitation. But…" he trailed off. she turned to him quickly, like a mechanized doll.

"I know. I was sick. I had just learned of Sakura's death." A lie. A bad one. She felt the eyes of Tsunade. Did Jiraya know as well? What was she even doing here? Tsunade didn't care about Sakura. she cared more for the _village_. Fear moved to grip her heart when Naruto spoke again.

"I…" he gritted his teeth against tears, "understand. Do you need to talk to anyone Ino?" he asked.

She gasped and looked into his deep cobalt eyes. She saw a need there. A need to talk to anyone. As Ino was about to say 'no, I spoke with my parents' or something else as weak, she felt a gust of strong wind. It had no origin except the front. She held her hair down and her dress closed before looking back at Naruto. The need was stronger.

Before her mind could register what she was doing, "Yes. I would like to talk Naruto…do you have a time or place?"

"No…I have a few things to do first. I'll call you…"

"You," Ino blushed, "have my number?"

"Sakura kept a list of numbers by my phone because I kept forgetting…" he rubbed the back of his head. "I'll see you in a few days Ino. Try and take care."

"I will Naruto." The wind subsided as Naruto left. Ino could swear she heard whispers on the wind. They came from behind. She suspected everyone knew now. Naruto's lack of knowledge was no sure way to know if anyone _else_ knew. The world could be dead and Naruto would be the last one to figure it out.

The prospesct of being alone with Naruto was a frightening one. Not even _he_ would be able to keep doubt from entering his mind in such a setting. His rage and anger would be a thousand times greater than anything even Tsunade could bring on her. Naruto in his purest form was nature's fury. The prospect was like standing before a malevolent typhoon or hurricane.

But still, a calm voice and happy face to help her ease her pain.

That she didn't have.

Her pain wasn't of a mourner.

Her pain was of a guilty murderer.

* * *

When her mother wanted to take care of her, nothing could get her to move. But Ino always tried to be rid of her, especially since she desperately needed to be alone again.

"Are you sure it's all right for us to go Ino-chan?" her mother asked. The older woman started fretting over the clothes Ino had thrown on after the funeral.

Two days ago.

Ino sighed and put on a fake smile, "Yes mother it's fine. I just feel bad taking advantage of you. I need to do some work. You know Godaime will have me on missions soon enough." Her mother smiled back and nodded. Eventually she did leave.

Inoichi told his wife he would be right after her. "Ino. Our family still has standing. I could try and find out how this happened."

"And how would that make me feel any better father?" Ino asked. She turned from him and headed for her stairs. "Especially if it was all one huge mistake?" As she disappeared from his view he let out a soft sigh and left.

Ino watched her parents go, fussing and fretting as they do, from her window. As Naruto had felt it, a cold calm washed over her. She turned to look out at the eastern view from her apartment. The visage of the Godaime was there staring out emotionlessly. Sakura had been her best pupil, truly her successor.

And because of the damned _village_ she put her murderer back on the streets. Ino suddenly felt disgust toward her fellow Konoha. She looked at the civilians with an anger she didn't know she had. After a few moments she pulled away from the window. She could stand to see her no longer. Even if it was only a fake.

'_Even if we made an in depth hoax, those who looked long enough and hard enough would see through it._'

BULLSHIT! By the time that happened Tsunade, Oyama, and even Ino would be bones in the ground. No one alive at the time would give a damn. The Kages (Shadows) could easily work it out.

Except they wouldn't. Even if the scroll mystery wasn't solved for another thousand years Ninja villages had long memories. These memories lasted longer when an enemy had made fools of them.

Ino could read the human soul as easily as any Hyuuga, mainly because she used her power to _circumvent_ other souls. She knew no matter what pathetic excuse Konoha came up with to execute her they would be found out in time. the only question was how long would it take to change the story? Decades. Maybe even centuries. Maybe even a few months after she finally does pass away.

Her death would be made into a martyr's. Sakura's murder and her trial (if they ever did give her one) would all be linked to two young women who gave their lives for a successful mission and prosperous village.

The thought made Ino sick.

Her anger had made her feel odd. Her throat was dry and her hands were cold.

_Like Sakura's. _

She turned from her window fully and went down to get a glass of water. She entered her kitchen and saw a small parcel. She picked it up and read the return address. It had an address that didn't belong in Konoha. Her mind looked at it and immediately the translation for the code form in her mind the answer. "_ANBU headquarters_," she thought absently. She hadn't been there since she had left after her report.

She ripped the brown wrapping paper off and found a plain white box inside. She opened it and deposited the contents onto her kitchen table. It was the summoning scroll for the contents of her locker at headquarters. Her body acted of its own will when it put the box down and opened the scroll. She channeled her chakra and put her hand in the circle.

In a neat little pile her clothing, armor, mask, and sword appeared on top of the scroll. She moved them and rolled it before depositing it in her pocket. She was about to take them when she remembered she hadn't cleaned her sword. It would still have…

"Her blood on it."

Ino slowly took the sword from the seemingly organized pile. She took the sheathe in her left hand and the hilt in her right and pulled it out.

When the blade was completely free Ino gasped. Red. From the perfect curved tip to the guard, it was blood red. Splashes and splotches had once sparsely coated it. After it had been sheathed the blood was still wet and had spread along the entire length of the blade.

Ino's cool shattered like the stone at Sakura's grave. She began to breathe heavily. She felt rain pelt her bare arms and face. suddenly she couldn't see. Her arms shook violently and she fell to her knees, realizing her entire body was shaking.

She still held the sword up.

She heard the crash of thunder and the crackle of an infant forest fire. It filled her with dread and excitement at once. She saw her enemy. _(It's Sakura_.) She rose quietly from the floor (_the grass and mud covered ground_.) She raised her blade. Its silver (_red_) sheen flashed in the blast of another lightning bolt. Her enemy didn't even turn as the clean (_dirty_) blade ripped into her. Through her heart and out her chest.

Ino fainted.

* * *

The phone rang loud in the kitchen. When Ino had fainted she had hit her head on the floor and she was disoriented. She grunted loudly. Sitting up she realized she was not well. Her fainting spell had been brought on not only by her flashback, but by her lack of sleeping and eating the last two days as well. She coughed into her fist and stood.

When she went to pick up her phone she couldn't, because her sword was still tight in her hand. She put it down, through a massive force of will, and reached for the phone again. As she picked it up she heard a click and a sigh of relief.

"Hey! Is Ino there?" a slightly less merry than usual voice asked.

"Y-yes," her throat was so dry. Well, she _had_ come fro a glass of water in the first place. "I'm, here."

"Hey Ino it's Naruto. I wanted to know if you still are up for that talk?" he said. She heard the need in his voice. Or maybe it was her own need reflected back through him.

Her head still hurt, but she did need to eat. "Yes. I'd love to. When and where Naruto?"

"I was thinking this little sushi place near the main gate?" he said.

Her stomach rumbled. "I'd love some. Where do you want to meet?"

"There's a small walkway in the park surrounded by Cherry Blossom trees you know it?"

'_Naruto took me to this wonderful place Ino-chan. It was right when the cherry blossom bloomed. He made them fly around us with a wind technique_.'

"Yeah I know it."

"I'll see you in an hour then?" he asked.

"Yes…an hour."

"Good! Bye Ino, see ya then." He hung up without waiting for her reply.

"Bye…" She took a huge gulp of air. She put her hands on the kitchen counter and let the phone fall of the hook. She covered her mouth with her hands to stop herself from retching. But she saw the sword. And the blood. And barely made it to her sink.


	3. The Jury

Chapter 3

Ino looked in her closet. She saw nothing she wanted to wear. Every time she found something she would toss it to the ground in a fit of anger and despair. Every piece of clothing she had was tainted.

By Sakura's touch.

Every single dress, blouse, skirt, pair of shoes, even her damn underwear, had been picked out with Sakura at her side or in her mind. It didn't matter some things were bought to stay ahead of fashion or out do her. It didn't matter some things were gifts from her. It didn't matter, because she was on everything.

To Ino it was like taking the blood on her sword and splashing it across everything.

After forty minutes of looking she crumpled into a heap on the floor. She saw a dress Sakura had bought her for her birthday a year ago. She sat up and looked at it.

'_I saw this when I was going shopping and it screamed 'Ino-chan' at me. Do you like it Ino?'_

"Yes Sakura," Ino said to the apparition in her mind. The memory had been at the flower shop, with Sakura and Ino's usual positions switched. Sakura had been leaning on the counter from behind the register while Ino sat in a chair and opened her gift.

But now, the scene changed. Sakura was leaning out of her grave. It didn't matter that Sakura's body was probably ash, the fact she was still talking wasn't even factoring into it. Ino looked at it and decided to wear it. A gift from her would be fitting if Naruto knew she had killed her.

"_After all_," she thought. "_He promised to kill her murderer._"

Sakura's voice, as if answering Ino's thoughts, wafted again through her mind.

_And Naruto always keeps his promises._

* * *

The park inside of Konoha was fabled to be have been where the First Hokage had begun his creation of the village and that everything else sprung from his original design. This is believed to be true as Sandaime (The Third) not only spoke of this place frequently in reference to the First, but also the park has the most beautiful collection of trees in the entire country.

Ino walked quietly through the cherry blossom trees. Her mind was a buzz with what would happen if things went the way she _wanted_ them to. Her mind was so fogged from her sadness for Sakura's death and her disbelief for how no official punishment would be given, that she had barely enough concentration to walk.

She knew the bench Naruto had told her about. It was the only one that was surrounded by the beautiful trees. When they were in bloom during the fall it was the best spot to sit in. Ino remembered when she was a little girl and would sit and let the blossom leaves fall around her.

With Sakura.

She felt like she was going to cry again. As the tears bubbled up in her eyes a voice called out to her. "I really thought you would take more time. I can count on my fingers how many times a woman hasn't been late to meeting me."

Ino looked up and saw Naruto. He was smiling. What struck Ino wasn't the obvious sadness in his eyes, it was Naruto himself. He stood taller than her by three or four inches. His shoulders were broad, she could tell thanks to the button down orange shirt he was wearing. To match his shirt he wore a pair of black pants cut off just under his ankles. He seemed to exude a quiet strength, the opposite of his wild nature.

"Did you want me to be late?" Ino asked, somehow adding her normal cattiness to her voice. She sounded fake to her own ears.

If Naruto noticed he didn't show it. "Come on. I'm getting hungry." He waved her on and turned his back to her before heading off.

It took Ino a few minutes to follow him. She caught up and walked beside him. Silence pervaded over the two young ninja as they made their way through the streets toward the restaurant. Ino looked at it and then turned to Naruto.

"What kind of place is this?" she asked.

"It's a sushi place," Naruto said. His eyes were downcast. "I uh…don't know any other good place." He walked past her into the shaded room and Ino quickly followed.

The 'restaurant' was run down looking. The area near the gates were usually in disrepair, but prosperous because they counted on weary travelers instead of locals. But even this was pushing it to Ino. The sign's paint was almost worn off. It hung at an odd angle, looking bent. The overhang to guard those who came and went from the rain was on the verge of collapse. She noticed the pipes and drains were tied on with bandages in some places. She shaking her head she went in.

Naruto was talking to an old woman at the bar. She had an overly wrinkled face and was laughing. Ino only counted five teeth. "Well boy I thought I'd finally be rid of you! I tell my daughter everyday the dangers of being a ninja," she spat the word. The woman had a towel wrapped around her head in the normal workingman's headband. She wore a dirty dress, but a clean apron, and had straw like silver hair.

She was cutting a large fish that looked delicious to Ino. Of course after two days of no food, rotten vegetables would have looked good. The old woman's knife flew across the fish and in seconds she had a set of neatly sliced chunks ready for cooking and serving. Ino blinked.

"My husband went out one day and never came back! Said it was for the good of the village! Well I'd like to see how good a man does for a village with a knife buried in his belly!" the old woman snorted. "What will it be Kitsu-chan (Little Fox)?"

Naruto frowned at her. His sadness faded just a bit. The old woman didn't flinch in her grimace, but a sweat drop did form on her temple. "We'll have the sliced Salmon." As he turned from the woman she coughed.

"What to drink?" she asked.

Naruto turned his eyes to Ino. "Anything you want?"

Ino gulped. There was something between the two. Something old and dangerous. "I'll have some…green tea," Ino stuttered out.

"Sake it is," the woman said as she moved the fish's head and tail off her cutting board. Ino merely blinked as she followed Naruto to their table. These looked as bad as the outside of the small shop, but Ino saw it was all show. The table was freshly polished and the chairs were painted with some small level of artistic skill.

"Why did she do that?" Ino asked.

"Hell if I know what that old bat thinks and why. I just come here for cheap sushi," he grumbled.

"I always thought you couldn't afford anything but Raman," Ino said with a little smirk.

"I can't," Naruto said. The smirk fell. He smiled at her and gave a little chuckle, "Don't take this the wrong way, I don't have much money because I usually have to…" he looked at the table and scratched on a small piece of graffiti, "do repairs. Training as much as I do. Took me ages to think of training outside."

Silence fell once again. The old woman appeared beside the table and set down a small bottle of sake along with two saucers. Ino saw steam waft from the top of the bottle. Naruto took it and poured her saucer first before pouring his own.

She said thank you and took a drink. It was warmed. The feeling of the alcohol pouring down her throat made her feel at ease. "What," she cleared her throat, despite the liquid it was so dry, "did you want to talk about?"

Naruto looked off into the distance momentarily. "Sakura's parents had her will read yesterday." Around the time Ino was reliving her murder. "She left almost everything to be split between me, her parents, and you." Ino was taken back by that. "Hana-san asked me to come by and get the keys to her apartment. They tried to pack things up there, but…" he trailed off.

Ino could imagine the kind of pain they were going through.

"Anyway. She wanted us to go through her things and see what we might want to keep, photos, keepsakes, her weapons, and what we might want to sell. I really didn't want to do it alone and I wanted to ask for your help in person." He explained all of it while still looking off. He spoke in a worn tone, like he was under the influence of some drug.

It was as if the energy and stamina he was famous for had left him.

"Yes…" replied Ino.

"Huh?" Naruto asked looking at her again.

"I'll help you. Should we get the keys after we eat?" Ino asked.

As the food was brought the old woman nodded to them and hurried off. "Yeah. If you want. But showing up a little drunk with me would give them the wrong impression," he said with a smirk.

The cattiness once again rose in her voice. Ino was surprised by her own acting ability. "I guess it wouldn't help I can't wear a bra with this dress." She slid her thumb under one of the thin straps on her shoulder. Naruto gave a small snort. He smiled genuinely and Ino felt a little better.

After that they were able to actually talk. The little things that people who have suffered (or done) horrible things were able to talk about to stay away from the pain of loss (or their crimes). To a casual observer you'd think they were happy normal young people.

Ino thought about this after a joke Naruto finished. It made her laugh the hardest she had since before Sakura died. She was actually happy for on-

Ino stopped laughing suddenly. She had taken a small piece of shrimp and was holding in her chopsticks to eat.

"_What the hell…am I doing?_" Ino thought. She dropped both the sticks and her shrimp and stood. "I'm-I'm sorry Naruto I have to go!" she said as she hurried out of the shop. Naruto blinked. He hurriedly scarffed the rest of his own meal down and threw some money on the table.

Running after her he flew out of the small building and caught a fleeting glimpse of her heading back toward the park. Naruto winced before heading after her. He chased her a few meters into a part of town he hated going into before he matched her pace.

She looked at him as he ran beside her and was about to run off, faster, until he grabbed her arm. "What's wrong Ino? What happened?" he asked. She looked up into his face and saw he was genuinely worried.

"Nothing…I…I just remembered something important. Godaime-sama wanted me ready to go back on missions today…" she lied expertly. Naruto nodded and as he let her go a short, snorting kind of laugh filled the small street they were on.

"Man it's been a while Fox brat," Naruto's face grew grim. Ino saw a group of four or five men each about thirty years old. "Is the little demon spawn bothering you miss?"

"Don't talk to them Ino. It inspires them to keep on breathing," Naruto snarled. He turned fully to face them and held out his right hand. "Do we have to prove why messing with me now is a bad idea _again_ Satsuma?"

The leader had been smirking, now the humor left his face. "You're getting uppity Uzumaki! If you're so smart to start threatening people you should be smart enough to learn no one wants you around here anymore! Get the fuck out of our village! You've already made our lives hell!"

Naruto remained silent. Energy gathered in his palm. "I lost any sympathy for you fools ages ago. It's well known that breaking and entering and vandalism are punishable by the one who's been wronged. I can only guess you were on your way to my house?" the wind stopped. It started again and began to whirl around Naruto.

Satsuma coughed. "Hey Satsuma let's go…he doesn't look right man," one of the older looking men said. Satsuma whirled on him. His was face a testament to anger.

"Fuck that! I lost my job because of that little shit! I'm not leaving unless I get some payback!" he ran to the side of the street and grabbed a lead pipe. Ino glared him down and went to her hip to draw a kunai, only to remember that she had only worn a dress.

Naruto appeared beside Satsuma, his face stoic and emotionless. "I won't kill you. I don't want the obachan (old woman) to get pissed."

_RASENGAN LEVEL ONE MAKI _(Spiral Sphere Level One Whirl)

Satsuma flew into the ground his body whirling around digging himself a hole. "I told you last time I won't put up with your shit." His eyes became wild and small. Red pinpricks in a sea of white. "_The next time I see you fuckers around my house I'll do more than plant your buddy here!_" Naruto slid his foot under Satsuma's side and kicked him to his friends. "Take your shit and go," he snarled.

The group grabbed Satsuma's limp body and ran. Naruto watched them go before he heard breathing. He remembered Ino was with him. He cursed under his breath. "Yeah…I'll…" he turned around and looked at her. He felt his fingernails grow out into the claws of his rabid demon like form and decided to hide them in his pockets. "Sorry about that…" he looked down at the ground.

"Naruto…what was that? Why did they?" Ino started to ask but he brushed by her.

"Just some old drunks who have nothing better to do. If you still want to help me pack Sa…her things up I'll get the key and go there early. Around eight or something. See ya Ino."

She watched him go, hands in his pockets, head down, toward his home. As he left Ino realized that she knew very little about Naruto beside the scant things Sakura told her and what she had seen on missions with him. Against her better judgment, she decided to follow him.

Her guilt was momentarily overshadowed by her curiosity.

* * *

Naruto walked steadily for over two miles. Ino was, mostly to her surprise, able to keep moderately close to him without even a look over his shoulder. She coped it up to his moodiness right after having to deal with Satsuma and his little band of thugs.

Of all the time she had seen Naruto, in battle, in the village, even within the presence of superiors, she had never seen him like that. Those hate filled eyes. That's what she thought it was at first. It wasn't hate. Not any kind of hate she knew of. It was more like annoyance. Just like…

A vision of Sasuke from years ago, first in the grips of some horrible curse came to her mind.

'_Sakura…who's the one who put you in that state?_'

Those eyes were the same. If Naruto had had the three tomoe his eyes would have been interchangeable with Sasuke's.

Ino believed there was something dark and wild in Naruto now. Whatever it was…_it_ had driven him to run for four days and three nights carrying her body to try and save her. _It_ told him to leave his post and his subordinates for her and he had done it.

Whatever _it_ was. Ino did not want to fight it. Not even if she had a hundred trained ANBU with her.

Ino realized, after her charming little jaunt in her thoughts, which the area of town they were in was badly run down. The building Naruto walked to looked as if it had been through several large fires. He leapt up the three levels to the top floor. When he reached a door covered in graffiti he pulled out a key and went to unlock the door.

"_He lives _there" she thought. Sakura had never told her Naruto lived in such a place. She decided not to dwell on it and hurried away from the building and ultimately the area of town.

Ino didn't know how long it took her to get home. She did know that it was wrong for Naruto to live in a shit-hole like that. He was one of the strongest ninja in the village. He did A and S rank missions exclusively now. The fact he has that kind of money alone should make him eligible for a better place to live.

She pushed these thoughts aside. Where Naruto lived wasn't important.

When she got home she went to her small storage room at the back of her building and got all the cardboard boxes, hangers, and anything else she had for packing. She had used these to pack her own things for when she moved out of her parents' house.

Even with her feelings of fear at what Naruto might find out in the following months, even with the almost shattering weight of her guilt, Ino was able to sleep soundly.

* * *

The next day Yamanaka Ino stood outside the home of her oldest friend. The building was menacing. It wasn't any different that then hundreds of other homes like it throughout the village. A basic two-story building with a set of four or five steps leading to a small porch and ultimately the front door.

Ino had been sitting on Sakura's steps for about an hour when Naruto came. She blinked at first and saw it was three of him. He was obviously using his favorite technique to carry all the extra boxes and things he had bought.

One clone held fifteen or sixteen small boxes, while another held two large rolls of bubble wrap under each arm. Naruto himself, who was walking in the lead, held some rolls of packing tape along with a key on a long line. He looked up and waved. He had the same sad smile from yesterday on his face. It made Ino's heart wrench to see him like that.

"Ready for this?" Naruto asked her when he reached the steps.

Ino made an attempt at a wise sounding 'of course,' but instead it came out sounding small and childish, "Yes…"

The real Naruto walked up the steps past her and opened the door. He lingered there for a few minutes, the key in the lock, before removing it. He stared at the doorknob as if it was some ancient and unknown creature that had decided to take up residence on Sakura's door.

Ino gulped. The last time Naruto had even been near this door had been when he and Sakura had headed out for their last mission…_her_ last mission. The thought chilled Ino's heart. By this point it was like having a piece of carved ice in her chest.

After a few minutes of contemplation Naruto grabbed the knob and turned, entering the home of his dead lover.

The inside of Sakura's house was dark. Like most houses in Konoha the building was two stories, thin but long. Naruto took off his sandals and pulled in the things he had brought before walking to her living room. Ino followed and they deposited their things.

Naruto was silent for what seemed like ages. He took a deep breath and finally turned to face Ino, a large smile on his face. "Sakura has a lot of dresses and clothes so you might want to get on that first. I'll take a look down here for anything small that can be put in these boxes," he said nodding his head toward the many boxes both had brought.

Ino nodded. She followed a short hallway past the kitchen toward the stairs and scaled them easily. She took a deep gulp of air when she reached the second floor. She saw Sakura's bedroom and took a second gulp. She walked slowly, as if her feet were getting stuck in deep mud or quicksand.

When she finally reached the door her arms were heavy as lead. It took all most as much will power as when she let go of the sword after her flashback. Eventually she regained control of her weighted limbs and was able to pulled the door open. Inside it smelled like nothing.

No activity or entrance for two weeks had left it devoid of Sakura' scent. Ino was thankful for small favors. Although the room was clean of her old friend's smell she doubted if her closet would be. Her will resolved to do the task at hand without drawing too much suspicion on herself. She opened the closet and looked at all the dresses Sakura either wanted to hang or dared not fold.

Ino took them all out carefully, one by one. Her eye examined every crease and fold of fabric. Every piece she had helped Sakura pick out she put to one side on her small queen sized bed. Next to them she placed the dresses and blouses she could probably wear. Finally those she had no chance of fitting into were put aside to be folded and packed away for sale or storage.

The better part of the first three hours went on like that. Ino would move from one section of the closet to another before finally moving to Sakura's dresser. Nothing was special there. Although when Ino found a pair of panties with slug designs on them she wondered how much of Tsunade had been packed into Sakura.

Shaking her head she took each pair and put them in a large bag she had found in the closet. Ino had moved on to Sakura's shoes and even the fashion-oriented young Kunoichi had to wonder how many pairs of sandals a girl needed.

The sound of something breaking alerted her to the downstairs. She quickly stood and drew a kunai from the holster hidden near her bottom. She blinked and realized it was most likely Naruto, who had dropped something or other. She shook the paranoia out of her mind and decided to check it out.

She saw that Naruto had come up stairs and passed by a large door. He had opened it and checked inside. The sound of the crash had come from when Naruto dropped a box of small pictures. The glass of some of the frames was ruined.

"Naruto? Are you okay?" Ino asked peeking inside. He saw standing over a small table. Ino looked around and saw huge cabinets made for weapon display and containment of their cleaning supplies. She blinked and entered. Naruto's head was down. "What is it?"

His shoulders hitched. "She got it for me. It had to have cost her a fortune. I…I don't believe she got it…"

"What?" Ino asked entering the dark room. Naruto turned and drew something. Ino instinctively raised her drawn kunai.

The short sword, Dosu if you prefer, was magnificent. It had a slightly curved tip with a wider than average double-edged blade. The hilt of such swords was usually straight so it could be hidden. This one had a guard that was more like a thin ring around the top of the hilt itself. Carved into the blade was the visage of a toad.

"I saw one like it in the window of the blacksmith's one day a year ago. I guess she saw that I wanted it…" he whispered. "This one is different though…it can…" suddenly a gust of sharp wind shot from Naruto. The blade began to glow a thin aura coated the blade and went to curve around his knuckles. "A chakra harnessing blade with re-directional guard…"

Ino gasped. "Where was it?" Ino asked. She could think of nothing else to say.

Naruto let his chakra fade from the sword and sheathed it in its simple scabbard. He turned from where he was standing and showed her the stand it had been put in. A card had been propped up next to it that read: _Don't forget to wrap it!_ With a little heart next to the words.

Sakura's handwriting.

"This sword…I'll use it to kill her murderer…" he said very softly. He held it up once again half his face obscured by the blade. A look of awe and amazement was there in the eye she could see. Ino's own face looked back at her. She realized that her own expression was the same.

"_This will be the sword to kill me? A final gift to her lover…It's killing touch will be Sakura's last gift to me as well…how poetic_."

When she went to say something she realized that Naruto had started to shake. His calm face and stoic emotion seemed to shatter before her very eyes. Naruto fell to his knees, never letting go of the sword or its scabbard. Tears ran down his face openly. Ino was taken aback. She was actually shocked.

She had known Naruto for nearly thirteen years by now and she had never seen him cry or be sad. This was too much for her. "Ino…I miss her so much…" he wiped his running nose with his left arm. He let the scabbard fall and covered his face in his hands. "I want her back. I want my Sakura-chan BACK!" he screamed.

Ino shook herself. The resolve she had built up going through Sakura's things broke then and there. She took the two wobbling steps to Naruto and fell on him wrapping her arms around his shoulders. She cried as well. Naruto's arms broke free of her grasp and enclosed around her. The two shook and sobbed together.

For now, their pain was the same.

After an hour of crying both finally quieted, yet they did not let go. Naruto needed to hold her, she had helped him and he felt a deep sadness within her. The tears Ino had shed were so great she had been unable to speak at all. Ino held on to Naruto to try and see if he had discerned how she really felt. Yes she had cried harder than Naruto, but if she had not she would have revealed everything to him then and there.

And while he was holding that sword she knew anything he did would be swift and full of vengence.

After an eternity Ino saw Naruto didn't know. She let go of him and stood. He followed suit, but not before grabbing the scabbard and sheathing his new sword. He slid it into his belt around his back and smiled at her. "Thanks Ino…"

She blushed and looked at the ground. "We should…get back to work," she cleared her throat. "there's still a lot to do."

"Yeah…heh heh," he rubbed the back of his head and went to work getting her weapons out and organized. Ino took the opportunity to leave and return to Sakura's room.

After that there were no more tears or words. Both young ninja went to work and packed all of their dead comrade's things easily and quickly. Soon all but Sakura's furniture had been put away. Naruto had made a run to the store and bought more than thirty small and medium sized boxes. By the time everything was packed the sun had set and it was well past eight.

"I'll take this stuff," he said referring to Sakura's weapons, the pictures of her and him, her dishes and the small flowers she kept around her house, "So I can get the dishes and things to Hana-san." Ino nodded and as she was about to get her own boxes a group of Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clones) did it for her.

Ino huffed and made her own. Since there were only seven big boxes Ino was able to make enough without straining herself. As the two groups made their way outside Naruto turned to Ino. He put a hand on her shoulder to stop her from going. She blushed.

"Ino…I wanted to ask…" he blushed himself. "Would it be okay if I called you Ino-chan?" asked the young warrior.

Ino flared. She had to think hard about this. If she said no Naruto would probably be that much angrier at her when he did find out what she had done. On the other hand, there was nothing wrong with it. So what if he called her that? So what if it showed a level of closer intimacy? Hadn't they shared something few people in their position ever did just that morning?

"Alright…but don't think it means anything," Ino lied. Her skills at deception were even fooling herself. Although making a convincing ruse to trick Naruto wasn't that hard.

He smirked. "Of course not. I'll see ya around Ino-chan," he said testing it out. "Tsunade-baachan (Granny Tsunade) has a big mission for me." He smiled and nodded before turning and heading toward his home.

The moon came out and a soft wind tickled Ino's face. The blush had made her face warm and she appreciated the cooling feeling of the air. Ino turned herself and went home.

With the spoils of her kill.

* * *

As Ino found herself at her front step it was well past nine at night. The combination of fatigue from carrying the heavy loads, packing them, and making several Kage Bunshin was putting a great strain on her. She didn't even notice the pair of sandals that were waiting for her. She set all the boxes down and dispelled her clones after putting their loads down.

She rubbed her sore shoulders and made her way toward her kitchen. The fact the light was on didn't bother her. Neither did the figure sitting at her kitchen table eating cup raman. But when he spoke.

"That was touching Yamanaka. Letting him call you '–chan' and everything." She whirled to face Nyosai. He ticked his index and middle fingers off his temple in a faux salute to her. He slurped some noodles and stood. "I just used your water if you don't mind."

"No I don't sir…what are you doing here?" Nyosai wasn't wearing his ANBU uniform, but he was wearing his jounin sweats. He blinked and finished off the soup from his cup and threw it and his wooden chopsticks in her flip-top garbage can.

"I came to give you this personally," he said showing her a black scroll. Normal scrolls had basic swirl designs, the color told the difficulty. But for ANBU mission scrolls all were black to signify the secrecy needed. "Here. Your first mission."

Ino took it and looked from it to her. She understood why he said that, but ti was something else that got to her. "you were _following_ me?!" she snapped.

"Not by my own choice! Oyama ordered me to do it to make sure we didn't have an explosion in the middle of the village. I mean if Naruto found out…of all people to have as an enemy…" he shook his head.

"What's so bad about Naruto?" asked Ino as she looked at the scroll, spinning I in the fingers of one hand.

Nyosai regarded her out of the corner of his eye. He squinted at her, not unlike the Naruto of Ino's childhood. "Sorry…can't tell you," he said honestly.

Ino growled. "ALRIGHT! ENOUGH NYOSAI!" Ino roared. "Naruto is one of if not _the_ strongest Ninja currently in the village. Why does he live in a shit-hole in the broken down section of the village?! Why does everyone blame their troubles on him?! How come He can't walk down the street without getting a death glare?!"

Nyosai leaned against her counter and crossed his arms. "I'd tell you but the ANBU following me to make sure I didn't blab would take me in immediately."

"Take you in?" Ino asked.

"To tell the information you want would result in immediate restriction of movement within the village, ANBU level imprisonment. My Ninja status and all my accomplishments would be striped from record. I would be placed in Konoha medium security prision for a term no less than twenty-five years. Where on the anniversary of my imprisonment, my birthday, Christmas, and the date of my initiation as a Ninja I would be tortured by the acting Hokage personally."

Ino shuddered. "All for telling me why people hate Naruto?"

"Yes. If you want you could ask him. I know he knows by now. You could also ask Godaime-sama. For breaking the supreme order of Sandaime Hokage that is the punishment all suffer. Especially ninja like ourselves. The mission is tomorrow. Tsunade-sama herself will fill us in on the specifics. You can ask her then. Have a good night Ino. Don't think too hard on things that don't have to do with the mission.

"Goodnight." He vanished. Ino merely looked from the space he had been to the scroll. If Tsunade herself was going to tell her about the mission she didn't feel like she had to read this thing. She tossed it onto her counter and began to shuffle through her cabinets for something to eat so she could go to bed.

The days of dieting were long past Ino. If she didn't lose weight training and going on missions she deserved to be fat. Part of her, now at least, wondered how Chouji kept all his own weight. As she opened one cubbard she saw a cup of raman. She blinked. As she took it down and looked at it she remembered making wise cracks to Sakura about her dates with Naruto as they increased in frequency.

_So forehead girl did your little hyper-nin he get you pork or miso raman?_

_For you information Ino-pig he got me _chicken_ raman!_

Tears spilled out of Ino's eyes. She was amazed at herself.

She didn't know she could cry that much.


	4. The Judge

Remusscarface: 1. my bad 2. If i told you that I'd have to kill you. 3. I know. It was a combination of Ino's lack of sleep, food, working on packing things most of the day, and her emotional outburst where she nearly told all that cvaused Ino's exhaustion on top of making and maintaining the clones. 4. Ino isn't mean, she is just jealous that Sakura has the thing their rivalry started over, a loving relationship with a strong handsome and good man.

* * *

Chapter 4

Although Ino wanted to, she was unable to ask Tsunade why the villagers had lost love with Naruto. Her mission was to be carried out at once. Her team, consisting of Nyosai, Hasuki, and Yosumai (the third member of her team), was to follow the trail of a young daimyo that was suspected of selling stolen artwork from the Land of Lightning's famous museum.

As they left Ino wanted to ask, but Tsunade had left before she had the chance.

It turned out the young man had been stealing artwork, along with a B-Rank criminal. Ino and Hasuki captured him and were able to claim the bounty on his head. The mission ended a week before the estimated completion date. Ino was happy; she had completed her _first_ ANBU mission with flying colors. She went home with a strong sense of pride.

The pride fell from her heart and sank into her belly. She entered her home and saw the sword that had killed Sakura. Shortly before she had gone to see Tsunade she had made her way to ANBU headquarters to buy a new sword. Her old one was still where it had been for the last week and a half. It rested on her counter, the red blade shining from the light entering her window.

She closed her eyes and covered her face. She left the kitchen and hurried up to her bedroom. The same thing happened, only now she saw the boxes of Sakura's dresses and clothes she had recently received based on her will. She started shaking and couldn't think of anything.

_Ino…I wanted to ask…would it be okay if I called you Ino-chan?_

Naruto…

She could call Naruto and talk to him. She could tell him…

What?

She was feeling guilty because she couldn't clean the blood of his _murdered lover _from _her_ sword. She slid down the wall beside her door, just outside her bedroom, and rocked against it. She started panting.

Her phone rang.

Ino screamed out of surprise. She closed her eyes and held her temples with the tips of her fingers. "Heh…oh god…" she stood up and entered her bedroom, taking the phone's receiver in her hand. "Hello? This is Ino."

"Where are you Ino?" the voice of the laziest ninja in Konoha asked.

"Huh?"

"Geez…how troublesome. Remember? Kiba made a big deal about some reunion or whatever…he wanted all of us Rookie 9 members to come?" Shikamaru asked.

Ino blinked. She remembered something like that. The plans were made just before…

_She struck, quickly, efficiently. Her medical ninja skill telling her, the exact place to pierce her enemy's back and tear through their lung, and their heart. The blade snagged the bitch's rib and crashed off of it downward._

"…come?"

"What?"

"I asked are you going to come?" he asked. She could hear the concern in his voice. "Listen Ino…I know it's going to be hard for you for a while. You don't have to come. We'll all understand. But if you do come…you won't be alone okay? I'll be there along with Chouji and Naruto and Shino and-"

"Naruto?" she whispered.

"Yeah. He said he would come. So…are you gonna come?"

Ino covered the receiver of the phone with her hand and took a long shuddering breath to regain what little composure and pride she had before she came home. "Sure. Can't let Naruto show me up can I?"

A short laugh came from her friend, "No. It's would be a real mess if he came and didn't have anyone to mope around with. See you at six Ino." The phone clicked.

"He's got to get all cleaned up for Temari…" Ino chuckled to herself as she hung up her phone. She glanced at the small face alarm clock by her phone and saw it was four thirty. But she got back to the village at ten that morning and back home at eleven. At the latest. Had she lost that much time sitting in the hallway?

A fear gripped her heart. She wondered if today was still 'today.' If she hadn't just fallen into a type of sleep and completely missed an entire length of time. Had her mind really been that frazzled? The thought was in its own ways more terrifying than fighting Naruto.

"Naruto…" she spoke his name softly.

_All for telling me why people hate Naruto?_

_Yes. If you want you could ask him. I know he knows by now._

Again Ino's fear was superseded by her curiosity.

* * *

The party was being held in a small bar just outside the 'formal' area of town where the Uchiha and Hyuuga clans called home. Inside the bartender, an ex-ninja, kept things clean and organized. He made the place up to be like a tiny ninja paradise, full of memorabilia from his many trips out of the country. Headbands stolen from dead enemies hung from the balusters and support beams.

The bar itself was very small. The place was so small all drink orders had to be taken at the bar, as there were only three tables for four people each. Tonight it had been closed for the party.

Naruto entered the party early, shortly after Lee and Kiba. The two welcomed him in. Lee tried to make a big show, but Naruto could tell he was still a little upset. Naruto assured him nothing would get in the way of an enjoyable evening.

After that lee tried to order a beer, but Neji arrived before he could. "I'd rather take a ten day training course with Hiashi-sama than have _you_ get any alcohol. It would hurt less." The joke made the four men laugh and started things off well. Hinata and her younger sister Hanabi were the first girls to arrive and they kicked things off by Hanabi getting a lecture from Neji about the dangers of alcohol and the dangers of giving alcohol to Lee.

Soon everyone had made it. All members of the Rookie 9, minus three. One was expected, one was not, and the last would never make it.

The one not expected came first. Sasuke's arrival triggered an immediate reaction with Kiba, Lee and Neji. Neji took point with Lee on his right and Kiba on his left. "Sasuke-kun," Lee said nodding. Neji activated his Byakugan. In response Sasuke activated his Sharingan.

"Should you really be here? Now?" Lee asked, a look of apology in his eyes.

"Whatever do you mean Lee?" Sasuke asked, his eyes locked on Neji.

"He means how do you have the balls to show yourself around here Uchiha? After that stunt your ass pulled?" Kiba snarled. He cracked his knuckles and let his hands drop to his sides. Sasuke could see the rectangle shaped bulges in his coat pockets.

"I was invited to this party long before that happened. Are you saying that I can't come in because of something none of us," he looked hard at Neji, "could have seen."

Neji smirked and closed his eyes. "Yes…" he opened them and gave his fiercest glare, "But you still tried-"

"Let him get a drink what do I care." The three turned and looked at Naruto. Sasuke's own eyes moved toward him. Naruto had taken a small drink from a saucer of sake before Sasuke came in. He was now drinking straight from the bottle. "But you better stay the fuck away from me for a while Sasuke-chan!" Naruto snarled.

Sasuke smiled and moved past the trio and went to the bar. Right next to Naruto. "I'll have some green tea."

"You deaf as well as blind Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

The young Uchiha smiled wider, "You must be the blind one. Look at how small this place is. I couldn't stay away from your dumbass if I tried."

There was silence as Sasuke's tea was made. "Aren't you going to apologize?" Naruto finally asked as he finished off his bottle.

"For what? You're the one who destroyed her grave."

There was a sense of tension so thick neither of Sasuke's or Naruto's blades could cut it. After a few moments of such a tense situation Naruto grunted a laugh, forced or no, and backhanded Sasuke's arm lightly. The act was small, but signified all was well. For now.

The party finally went into swing as the last straggler showed up. Naruto was well into his fifth drink, the sake didn't have much effect on him after getting so angry at Sasuke, when he looked at the entrance and saw Ino's legs. The cloth entrance to the door overshadowed the rest of her. Earlier Lee had pulled half of it down after drinking a beer.

Naruto blinked as Ino ducked in and raised the flap up.

She was wearing a deep orange dress that accented the color of her eyes. It was a simple slip on. What made Naruto take notice was the fact it was Sakura's. she had only worn it once, during a small ball for the wedding of the Lord of the Land of Fire's daughter. They had matched, with a formal Shinobi 'suit' for him and the more modern evening dress for Sakura. The memory made Naruto's mind buzz.

He didn't know if Ino looked beautiful in it because Sakura _had_ worn it, or because Ino _was_ wearing it.

She looked around and when she saw him she froze. "_Calm down. Shikamaru said he would be here…he still doesn't know…_" she whispered in her mind. He waved. Shikamaru saw Naruto's motion and nodded to her. Ino decided she would head over to Shikamaru first.

"Glad you came," he said. Beside him was Temari. She gave her normal confident smirk and nodded to her. Ino gave an equally prideful nod and smile back. "You missed quite a little show earlier…" he said as he pulled a cigarette from a pocket in his flak jacket and lit it. Temari snatched it from his lips and put it out on the table. He grunted in surprise. "_Damn troublesome woman…_" he thought.

"You two look comfortable," said the young ninja. _If I live through all of this I should become an actress._ She thought, her mind worn from the stress of losing hours of time to grief.

"She is…only because she makes me that way," Shikamaru grunted. Temari gave him a coy smile and a playful poke in the ribs. He shook his head and looked up at Ino. "So how was your first mission?" he asked.

"It was fine. That's all I can say you know," she replied. ANBUI missions were not to be spoken of unless both listener and teller donned a mask. Shikamaru nodded and then moved his eyes to the space behind and to her left.

Ino turned and was face with Naruto, a bottle of sake and two saucers in hand. "Hey Ino-chan." The honorific got a sideways glance shared between Shikamaru and Temari. "Want a drink?"

_More than a fish out of water._ "Yes I would. Thank you Naruto-_kun_." Even though a bit of scathing was in the add-on there was only fun meant. Naruto certainly didn't mind. Ino took her place next to Shikamaru and Naruto poured her a drink before sitting himself.

After a few drinks Ino was able to actually speak without fear of her emotions escaping her control. "What did you mean by a 'little show' Shikamaru?" The lazy-nin tensed. Naruto stopped in the middle of a drink.

"He means how dear Naruto and I nearly went at each other," Sasuke said, appearing beside her. She gave a little gasp. She could see a contented smirk on his face.

Ino knew he was happy about something, she wondered at it and came to the conclusion he was glad Naruto still gave him a glance, still had the fire to fight. If that fire had died along with Sakura, or been _killed_ along her, then fighting him and beating him would be nothing to the arrogant Uchiha.

Sasuke nodded to her and took her hand. "Good to see someone isn't a complete wreck," he said as he gave it a light peck. Naruto snorted and gave him a fierce and angry glare. Ino caught sight of it and felt a deep fear crawl into her. Sasuke took the hint and left with a final smirk.

Naruto shook his head and filled his saucer so much there was a threat of overflowing. After he drank he smacked his cheeks and went back to smiling, albeit the smile was sad and obviously influenced by Sasuke's cruel choice of words. "So…how's your brother been sleeping?" Naruto asked.

Temari blinked. She snorted and let out a happy laugh Ino rarely saw. "He's fine. He actually took a nap a week ago. Kankuro sent me a letter just for that!"

Naruto and Temari burst into tearful laughter. The reason was Gaara's mental state was in flux due to his lack of sleep (and the several hundred assassination attempts from his father). Because the Ichibi (One tail) would devour and breakaway parts of his personality as he slept Gaara was too scared to so much as snooze. After he was stripped of the demon and resurrected Gaara was still deftly afraid of sleep. So much so that Naruto has no choice but to make fun of him for it.

Even though the reason for the laughter was somewhat grim, but it was laughter none-the-less. The booze helped, the laughter helped even more. The feelings brought on by Sasuke were washed away as if by a wave of fresh summer rain. The party was truly started. Lee and Kiba had stayed back from Naruto, now that they saw he was happy they pulled him away and began indulging in a few wild antics only the three could do.

Lee slammed his hand into the old jukebox in the corner to kick it back to life and picked an older classic tune he knew. Naruto made a clone, Akamaru changed in Kiba, and Naruto Changed in an elegantly dressed version of his Sexy no Jutsu. Kiba and Akamaru, as their partners, changed their normal black attire into a full tuxedo. The four went into a high paced and fluid tango.

When they finished Naruto changed back and took a quick drink from the sake bottle he brought to share with Ino and held his hand out to her. "Let's see if I can dance was well with a woman," he said with a smirk. Ino looked at him then at Shikamaru. He gave her a discrete thumbs-up with his shadow. She drank from the bottle as well and jumped up.

Soon the whole bar, all of the rookie 9 and team Gai minus one, was dancing and having a truly good time. things wound down naturally as the hours grew late. By midnight only the rowdiest and the most silent of all the teams were left. Kiba and Hinata called it a night and headed off toward the Hyuuga mansion. Tenten dragged Lee away from the bar. Lee was singing about Youth and Tenten had the most evil look on her face.

Naruto watched her go with a long face and red cheeks. "He's going to get a surprise tomorrow. And I don't mean a hangover…" Ino snorted.

Down the bar a few seats was Sasuke. He was drinking iced alcohol and kept checking the clock. At ten 'til one he got up and walked by Naruto setting his elbow lightly on Naruto's back. Naruto gave him a halfhearted wave and flipped him the bird as he left, Sasuke returned the favor.

Soon Naruto and Ino were all alone at the bar. Ino gave a slight shudder from the breeze outside and Naruto threw his over shirt on her shoulders. He smiled wanly and stood. "The Jiisan (Old Man) wants to close up. Let's go. I'll walk you home."

Ino nodded. She was far too drunk to see why that was not a good idea. He took her hand and helped her up. After they had left the bar she slipped her arms into the long sleeves of the shirt and buttoned it. She saw that if she wanted she could just pull it off. Naruto's shoulders were so broad.

"Where's your house again?" he asked a small drunken snigger following the question.

She told him. She wondered how, she could barely understand where she was. Before she knew it she was lying on her bed. It was much harder than she thought. She coughed, it was so dusty too. She reached out for her pillow and she couldn't find it. The lights on the street hurt her eyes so she closed them. Her head was pounding.

_He knows now._

Sakura?

_Yes. Naruto will find out. Once you get home. He'll see the sword. He knows it's my blood Ino. He'll see it._

Sword…I keep forgetting to clean it.

_You'll never have the chance Ino-chan. Naruto will kill you before you have another chance._

With the sword you got him…

_Yes…_

She shifted her body a little and then her bed softened. Her head was on her pillow. She felt something colt against her chest. At first she thought it was the sword, beginning its journey to her heart. But then she realized that it was flat and round. She blinked. A light was above her head. she thought it was the sun, but it was really her fan's lamp. In her bedroom.

_In her house!_

She sat up at once. The person at her beside gasped. "GOD!" she cried.

Ino looked around and realized several things at once. One she smelled coffee, which she didn't have any of in her pantry, at least she thought not. Two: she was naked from the waist up. And three, Tsunade was sitting beside her.

"Lay back down Ino," Tsunade's voice called. Ino panted and looked at her with wide eyes. Tsunade, whose own face was calm and collected, began to explain. "You passed out on your way home. Naruto brought you to my house. It's morning. I'm making sure you don't have a cold. How do you feel Yamanaka?" she asked.

Ino tried to talk, but her throat was again, dry. Tsunade stood up and pushed on her shoulder, with a little more force than necessary, for her to lie back. "Here," Tsunade gave her a glass of water with a straw. When she was finished Ino said thank you and went to close her eyes, but Tsunade put a hand on her shoulder. "Ino. How have you been sleeping?" Tsunade asked.

"I've been fine Tsunade-sama." The lie did not fool either women.

"No. You haven't. I can see the bags under your eyes now Ino. The make-up you used was well done, Naruto was in your face trying to see if you would wake up and he didn't even notice. Also that," she pointed to the are that would be Ino's stomach, "is too empty for you to have been drinking all night. You'll be getting a big breakfast here before I'll let you leave."

Ino looked at her and her sudden nakedness made her face grow frightened. "What?" Tsunade asked.

"Did Naruto…?" Ino stumbled.

Tsunade looked at her before laughing. "No! God no! It started to rain when Naruto carried you here. Both of you were soaked. So I made him wait in the bathroom while I washed and dried your clothes." Ino's face grew gaunt, "Separate washes. I'm not an idiot girl. I also followed the instructions to a T." Tsunade waited for Ino to say something, but she didn't. "I'll get cooking. You can get dressed," she said motioning to the small closet in the room.

"Thank you Tsunade-sama."

Ino headed down stairs a few minutes later. She was wearing a set of jounin sweats that fit her well. Tsunade had hung her dress up near the laundry room. Ino decided she'd leave it for now. Her head ached with the light from both the windows, which Tsunade had opened. Ino was thankful Tsunade had used a limited healing jutsu so her head wasn't pounding with a hangover.

As Ino entered the room Tsunade nodded to a table and she sat down. The situation was awkward. Ino wished she _did_ have a hangover so there would be a reason not to talk. When Tsunade handed her, her breakfast she felt her stomach lurch. She _was_ hungry. Famished even. She dug in when Tsunade sat down and began to eat herself.

Ino finished her meal, which included three servings of everything and was delicious. She took her dishes to the sink and as she scrapped the larger portions, of which there were very few, into the trash she saw a cup ramen. She blinked. Her mind screamed at her.

_Ask. Ask NOW!_

She slowly put her dishes down into the sink. She washed her hands and wiped them with paper towels. Turning she saw Tsunade sitting at her small kitchen table and decided now would be the best time she would ever have to ask. "Tsunade-sama?"

"Hmmm?" asked the older Kunoichi.

"I wanted to talk to you…about Naruto." Ino slid into her seat across from the med-nin. Tsunade was reading a medical book. She had taken it out after Ino had shown more interest in excavating her plate from her food than actually talking.

"What about the brat?" Tsunade replied. The insult was not meant to hurt. Ino would have to be blind not to see the affection in her face.

"Why does everyone hate him?"

Tsunade stopped reading. Her eyes moved up and locked onto hers. She slowly closed her book and took on her Hokage veil. All emotion left her face. she seemed to be as cold as the stone that depicted her on the cliff-face below her house.

"Why do you ask that Ino?" countered Tsunade.

Ino's eye twitched. "Because. Everyone outside our little group either hates him or is scared to get on his bad side! I saw a group of men blame him for their troubles when Naruto could not have-ah!" Tsunade swung her hand out to stop her.

"What is the _real_ reason Ino? You and I both know learning more about Naruto would only complicate the situation." Ino didn't need to ask what _situation_ she was talking about.

"I…I just want to understand why the person who made Sakura so happy," she clenched her fists around the edge of her chair and lowered her hair so her long bangs covered her eyes. Her shoulders hitched and she began to shake badly, "can be so hated by people. People who have every reason to love him too!"

"I see…what I'm about to tell you Ino was not only called a 'forbidden taboo' by the Third, my mentor, but it is punishable by the harshest penalties our law can allow…you gain this secret at a great risk. To tell it to anyone, even those who _already_ know is a crime.

"Do you understand Yamanaka Ino?"

Ino felt a deep part of her smile. Something sinister was happy, and she was scared of it. Because it was trying to kill her for Sakura.

"Yes Tsunade-sama." She looked at her elder with fierce eyes.

Tsunade took a deep breath and let it out. "Do you know how the Fourth Hokage died?"

She nodded, "Yes. He died by using a forbidden jutsu to kill the demon fox Kyuubi right?"

"Correct. To an extent. He _did_ kill the demon fox with a forbidden jutsu. It _did_ cost him his life. But the jutsu was a _sealing_ jutsu."

"So what does that have to do with-"

_What will it be Kitsu-chan?_

_It's been a while Fox brat…_

_Is the little demon spawn bothering you miss?_

"No…Yondaime put the fox…_inside_ of Naruto?"

Tsunade nodded. "His naval to be exact."

"That's why everyone hates him? Because of that? But don't they know he is just the _container_?" Ino asked. She was aghast. She couldn't believe that the people of the village, _her_ village, would be so prejudiced.

The next question she had made her so scared. It made her fear Naruto. Fear the anger and hatred he had kept inside of him. As a boy she had seen it in his eyes, the pain he hid, and now she knew why he hid it. He was scared that the tenuous relationships he had formed with them would be shattered with a mere word. Kyuubi.

She asked the question anyway. She had to.

"Did…did Sakura know?" Ino asked.

Tsunade was silent for a few seconds. To Ino each passing second was an eternity. What was the extent of her damage to him. What had he taken. A lover who understood there were things he was reluctant to tell her? Or the one person who was with him to bare his pain?

"Yes. She learned about it when Naruto first returned after his training with Jiraya."

So long ago. Sakura learned what had to be Naruto's deepest darkest secret when they were only fifteen. When had Naruto learned? Surely he could not be the boy she knew if he had truly known all his life. His hatred would have festered into a pure form. She could see that clearly.

And _they_, those fucking villagers, had hated him all his life. From the day he had been born. And he didn't even know why. How the hell could he have survived? That's why he lived in such a place.

_They_ wouldn't _let_ him live anywhere descent.

Sakura knew that.

And Ino had killed her. Taken that from him.

No wonder Nyosai was so scared.

* * *

The night came quickly and softly. The sun set beautifully on the park. the trees were getting ready to bloom. Soon it would be time for the normal village children to return to school. The summer had been brutal, its rains frequent and hard.

And cold.

And now Ino smelled the difference in the air. It would rain again soon. She didn't really care. She had learned that the death of her best friend, by her own hands, had also taken something more than a lover, it had taken the only person Naruto could be true to away.

Uzumaki Naruto, the candidate for Rokudaime Hokage. Not only had he surpassed the Fourth Hokage in his ultimate technique Fuuton Rasengan (Wind Release: Spiraling Sphere), but he was also the star pupil of the Fourth's own mentor, Jiraya, and his student, Hatake Kakashi. He could defeat an entire castle of trained soldiers with his most well known ability: the creation of upwards to two thousand clones.

And he had every reason to kill her slowly and painfully.

Ino took in a deep breath. Naruto would kill her. She knew it. It was only a matter of time. the food Tsunade had given her was good, but it had done little to cure her of her fatigue and deep depression. She needed to end it. And end it soon.

She closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands. She had to end it soon. Her life had no meaning anymore.

She had already taken the meaning from two lives.

When would the next one be?

* * *

Despite her pain Ino did not do anything. The revelation that Naruto was the container for the spirit of a demon only made her feel something deeper for him. Empathy and compassion were parts of her personality she hid frequently. But now with a lack of sleep and food, which she remedied by taking up ramen as Naruto did, her emotions were a bit unpredictable.

Outside of the mask.

Now wearing it was almost an addiction for Ino. A new mission came every other day. Tsunade was either taking her questions about Naruto as sign she was doing better about Sakura's death, or that getting Ino as far out of the village as possible would be best.

When she put it on, all hesitation, all fear, whether it be for Naruto or his retribution, left her. She was free when her face was hidden by the flowers and the mask.

As she worked on missions she saw more of the ANBU, specifically of her teammates and the commanders. She was called in one day and was questioned by an ANBU commander who wore a dog mask. It had a sneer that made her think of Kiba, and the two fang marks on its cheeks told who it was.

Inuzuka Tsume, mother of Inuzuka Kiba, asked her about Naruto, his skills and abilities that she knew. It was obvious they were using her to see if Naruto was available, mentally and physically, to be an ANBU Hunter.

Ino answered as truthfully as she could. She knew that this was a crucial step if he wanted to become Hokage. Ino was a bit surprised at herself. She hadn't what could be called a 'healthy' meal in several days. She had gotten some sleep after passing out from exhaustion.

In truth it would be almost six months after Ino learned of the Kyuubi and Naruto that the shock of what she had done hit her the hardest. When once again she did the thing she could not take back. it would mark the slow descent into a darkness Ino could only see one way out of.

* * *

MountainWind here! Thanks for all the reviews! 


	5. The Defense

Author's Note: Yeah...i noticed a few people suggestioning Naruto as a missing Nin. Read :Slayer 10, my new fic. I know i have like 3 going right now...but this one and 10 take precedent...

Darkpheonix: That story was touching, it made me emo for like an hour. Nothing sets my hands typing like an Emo moment.

* * *

Chapter 5

Ino's choice to kill herself came to her one night after she took the last thing that belonged to Sakura.

She had been sleeping when the angered face of Sakura, covered in blood and mud and sweat from when Naruto carried her back to Konoha, came to her and sent a wave of rage and pain at the young tormented Kunoichi.

Ino decided to kill herself exactly one week after it happened. On the day Sakura would have turned twenty-four.

* * *

Haruno Sakura died four months after her twenty-third birthday. Two months later, her best friend and murderer, Yamanaka Ino, found out the darkest secret kept not only by Naruto and his lover, but also the entire village. And now Ino sits in her house going over the times of day.

She has lost the equivalent of five days since she killed Sakura.

This wouldn't upset her as much as the fact she and Naruto were meeting each other frequently within the village. Ino was now searching him out at a lower level of her consciousness. She realized it and had to nearly make her mind explode before she gained control of her body enough to not leave and look for him.

The need to see and speak to the blonde haired boy was excruciating in its degree. She had to know if it was true. Ino knew she could not doubt the Hokage, even more so since Tsunade had fought against the demon fox and had been Naruto's mother figure for sometime now. But that didn't mean Ino could _trust_ her. She after all, had let Ino walk free after killing Sakura brutally.

Ino was more concerned with trusting her friend's mentor than she was her _own_ _mind_.

The loss of time became a factor when Hinata asked her about the books she had lent her. She only stared at the young heiress. Ino's eyes shifted over to Naruto, who was joking with Kiba and prodding Shino. She returned her gaze to Hinata.

"Don't you remember Ino-san? I let you borrow them before…" she bit her lower lip, "Sakura's…" another moment of hesitation, "Death…" she said at last.

"Oh…yes!" Ino now remembered. Her mind had been in a fog all day, mostly because she had spent the previous day cradling her blood soaked sword and mumbling. She gulped and pulled the vaguest details she could from both the book, and her ass, to throw Hinata off.

Thankfully it worked.

After that incident, and some debate, which cost her exactly seventeen hours of time, Ino decided she needed to start sleeping more. As a medical ninja she could easily make a drug that would give her a dreamless sleep, but the ingredients she knew were intensely regulated by the ANBU. The reason was most drugs were found to be highly addictive if even the slightest mistake is made.

So she tried listening to music, which did not help at all.

Now she killed Sakura to a soundtrack.

After she sat up for another two days without anything remotely close to a healthy sleep state, she tried to think of when she _did_ sleep well. Remembering that on missions she had no dreams she tried sleeping with her sword in reach.

When that did not work she wore her mask to bed as she did when she was on missions. There were no visions of her dead friend. No horrid playbacks of her deed. Nothing.

With one half of her crisis solved she turned to eating. Nothing that she took time to make was able to satisfy her, and most times she wasn't hungry by the time she had finished making it anyway. After some small experimentation she found that the easily and quickly made cup ramen was the answer to her problem. After meeting Naruto at Ichiraku she nearly ate fifteen bowls after her first try. Now she eats either there exclusively or she keeps her shelves stocked with instant cup ramen.

As her mind began to come back to its senses, and she no longer had the haze of fatigue or hunger around, she saw things in a new light. It gave her the ability to look inward on herself. Sitting in her home, waiting for the inevitable '_ding_' of her microwave she had vast moments of introspection. Many times these came from looking at her first sword.

The one that hit her the hardest was that she was lonely. Beyond lonely.

Normally her days working for her father went by at the speed of light, no matter the amount of customers. Mostly because she was either too tired to really understand what she was doing, or because Sakura had been there to take her mind off of the tedium.

But Sakura was dead and gone.

Ino now sat in her shop alone, looking at a magazine that was nearly a year old wondering what to do with herself. When it was time for her to leave she went home and sat in her bedroom, going over her mission scrolls. Normally ANBU protocol would be to burn or get rid of them, but she kept them around two or even three weeks after the mission was done to remember.

Her boredom was lifted after the return home from a particularly hard mission. Like many others she had done it had been a combination of her and Hasuki's skills that had given the mission its successful completion. As they neared the secret ANBU entrance nearer to the Faces of the Hokage Hasuki slowed down to run beside Ino.

"Yamanaka-san?" Ino didn't answer right away. She turned her head ever so slightly to acknowledge him. "I wanted to ask how you were doing."

She had avoided speaking to him about the…_event_, claiming she was fine. After learning about Naruto she had become introverted, even to the captain speaking only when needed to. Hasuki didn't really see any difference, mainly because that was how she had always acted around him.

"I'm fine," she mumbled.

He nodded. After a few minutes of silence he spoke again. "I also wanted to ask if you would like to go on a date with me." Ino did not slow, but she felt the twinge of fear grow in her belly. "My cousin Neji wanted me to take someone to help things be easier on his own date. Would you mind Ino?"

She thought about it. Would it be so wrong? She really didn't want to spend time with Hasuki outside of missions because not only did she not like him, but also he had an arrogance about him that rubbed Ino the wrong way. Ino didn't know when she said yes, but by the time she had gotten back to her house she knew what time, where to go, and what color to wear.

"I'm an idiot," Ino said to herself as she washed her hair.

_Yes,_ Sakura's voice agreed, _you are._

* * *

Neji bowed to Ino and gave her what had to be his version of a 'warm' smile. "Ino-san. It is good to see you again…in a happier setting," he said. Ino knew Neji didn't like going to bars, especially with Lee around, considering the last time they had been near each other before that Neji had to keep a battle between two of the strongest ninja in the village from destroying the graveyard. His date was a blue haired Jounin who he had met when he first transferred to the Hunting Division of ANBU.

"Same to you Neji. Where are we going again?"

Hasuki was quick to speak up, "Just a small place near the mansion," he explained. Ino nodded. She was suddenly glad that Hasuki and Neji were taking her. They may have been members of the Branch Family, but they _were_ Hyuuga. It was widely known that if not for the taboo of the two families Neji would have become the heir apparent to the headship of his clan. It also meant that she wouldn't have to pay a cent.

The restaurant was not small. It was a large and fancy place filled with food from all over the world. The prices were, on the other hand, _out_ of this world. She blinked when she saw a salmon dish, the same one she and Naruto had had at the rundown joint he took her to, was nearly fifty times more expensive.

"What would you like ojou-sama (my lady)?" the waiter asked.

"Uh…" Ino picked something she could barely pronounce and hoped she would be able to eat it.

Nezuji, the girl Neji was with, was very talkative. Ino could barely stand her voice. Given she was one to talk when it _came_ to talk and gossip, but she had more than stopped it when she was around strangers who knew nothing of her inane babble. Neji and Ino were sitting opposite each other. The reserved Hyuuga was sipping his tea gently, nodding when he was supposed to.

All in all he didn't _seem_ to want to kill her. Ino suddenly realized she and Neji were add-ons. The feeling that Nezuji and Hasuki had convened so they could convince Neji to date her and Ino, him. "Ino-san," he said once Hasuki and Nezuji had gotten into a long discussion that Ino didn't give two shits about.

"Huh?" she asked looking into his silver eyes. Not unsettled by the lack of pupils. The image of your dead and rotting friend made such things seem normal.

"How have you been?" he asked gently.

She laughed a little bitterly and rubbed her forehead, "I'm okay. It's been hard these past few weeks of course. But I've found a few ways to get through it."

"That's good," he was silent then. After Nezuji said something about dogs he looked at her with an unreadable emotion. "I wanted to say thank you."

"For what?" Ino asked. The last time she had even spoken this much to Neji was on a mission, and he had only been giving orders.

He frowned slightly and took a longer drink of his tea, "To be honest I, as well as Hinata-sama, care about Naruto. He is a great friend to us. If it wasn't for him I would still hate the main house…not even my late father's will would have changed my mind. What I am thankful for is that you have been helping him. After my father died my mother did the same for me. We used each other's pain to ease the weight of the other's.

"I also speak for a few of our closer friends. Lee, Tenten, Kiba and Shino don't know how to talk to Naruto because they all knew Sakura as much as you and I know each other. I can't say I know how bad you feel, but I can say how much Naruto must be suffering. You've been making it easier for him to go on.

"That's what we are thankful for Ino-san."

Ino felt tears welling in her eyes. She could see he meant it. The most stoic of all the ninja she knew was now admitting he was grateful for her actions. The one action that he didn't know of had started all of this. Ino felt sick. She nodded her appreciation of his words and looked down at her drink glass. When her food came she barely ate any of it, it was good, but she felt like vomiting every time she took a bite.

By the time they were ready to leave Ino was very thankful. She had the bad idea to speak one of her wants as they were leaving. Under he breath she muttered, "I need a drink." She had the idea of drinking from her private stash, a cooled jug she kept in the back of her fridge.

Sadly, Hasuki heard her.

"I know a great bar down the road!" Hasuki said happily. For a Hyuuga he had almost no idea how Ino was feeling. Neji picked up on it a little, but decided not to speak out of turn. He and Nezuji went along, the girl yapping all the way.

Ino did _not_ want to hear the little bitch speak anymore, especially when she was about to get drunk. When she realized that she could easily summon her sword and pierce her throat, she nearly started a fit of hysterical laughter. She reduced it to sniggering, which Hasuki picked up on.

"What's so funny Ino-chan?"

She ignored the informality he obviously believed he had with her. "Just a joke Naruto told me."

"Oh…I see," he said, not too kindly. It was then Ino saw something bad happening. She also realized that it wasn't Hasuki's arrogance per-say that annoyed her, it was his sense of superiority when it came to _Naruto_ that got on her nerves.

The bar itself was a larger version of the one Kiba had had his party in. Sitting outside, munching on a horse bone was the massive Akamaru. He looked up and nodded to Neji and Ino before going back to his duty of eating the bone. Neji led them in and noticed immediately that Hinata and her team was sitting at a table. Apart from them, yet at the same table, was Naruto. He had a glass of beer in his hand and was laughing so hard he had to keep it on the table.

"And get this! Stupid fool runs away from us after Shino nearly kills his partners right? Trips a wire, and gets pounded by his own log trap! WA-BAM Mother-fucker!" Kiba roared. He emphasized the log hitting the target with a fist to the palm of his other hand.

Shino adjusted his glasses, "Such language."

Hinata was giggling to her boyfriend's joke when she saw her cousins. "Neji-aniki, Hasuki-kun. Hello," when she saw Ino she nodded to her.

"Hey! Ino-chan! Come on and sit guys!" Naruto said as he scooted over. The table they were at was small and round but it fit all of them easily enough when Naruto pulled another over. A pitcher of beer was brought and poured for everyone, even Neji who preferred more refined alcohols.

"We were just talking about the worst marks for hunting ever!" Kiba said as he took a swig from his draught. "Also sort of kinda almost on that subject but not really! I would like to make a toast celebrating the entrance of the man who will be the _worst_ ANBU ever in the history of Konoha! AND! Maybe even the entire recognized Ninja world!" Naruto glared him down. The two wild Nins laughed it off and hit their glasses together.

"You've joined the ANBU?" Ino asked him.

Naruto smiled, "That's right. Hunting division."

Ino felt a chill run down her spine. Hunting Division was devoted mainly to apprehending criminals. They were experts in decimating enemy forces and taking down S-B rank criminals. Naruto, who could potentially take down an entire castle, was perfect for the job.

"I wonder how true that would be?" Hasuki asked.

Kiba chuckled and drank from his glass. Ino, who was between Hasuki and Naruto saw easily the deadly glare in Kiba's eye. Because of his dog like nature Kiba had taken on the habit of growling when angry, his speech coming from it. The look in his somewhat bestial eye was a look of practiced calm. Whatever Hasuki had meant, it better not be an insult.

He slammed his glass down and looked straight at Hasuki, leaning in on his elbow, "What's that mean?"

"Well I mean you meant that right? I remember hearing stories about him from Neji when he was a student." Neji frowned at that. It was true he _spoke_ when Hasuki was around but that didn't mean her _told_ him anything. Naruto looked at the Hyuuga Prodigy. If Neji could look embarrassed and pissed off at the same time Naruto picked up on it and tried to look like he was interested in a piece of falling wall paper.

Sadly, Hasuki continued.

"You don't go from being an idiot like that to a ninja ready for the ANBU. Even after all these years." The mood at the table changed dramatically. Ino saw the shadows grow over Hinata's eyes. Shino adjust his glasses and put his hands on the table instead of his pockets, she heard a soft buzz and remembered his attack stance. Arms spread out before him to release his bugs. Hasuki once again showed how stupid he was by continuing, "Think about it. He's an idiot. It took him nearly seven years to become _chunin_! He says he wants to become Hokage but his best technique is turning into a naked girl? What kind of pathetic, low brow, stupid idiot does tha-"

The attack was so fast Ino didn't notice Kiba's body flying over the table until he was standing over Hasuki's body. A hand went to his shoulder and he whirled to see Shino, "Not the time or place Kiba. Stop," he ordered. Kiba snorted and stepped back. Ino went to Hasuki's side and looked his face over. Kiba's foot had made an imprint, but there was no permanent damage.

"No one says shit like that in front of me…" Kiba snarled at him. "show respect to your betters punk!"

"Hey! Mutt! If I wanted you to defend me I'd put a leash on you!" Naruto snarled back grabbing Kiba's collar. "Don't get on people for talking about me! I _was_ an idiot at the academy remember?" he asked. Kiba calmed down slowly and nodded. The anger faded as he realized he was only pissing Naruto off. that was something Kiba was wary of ever since the chunin exams.

"Yeah…let go man," he grunted. He turned to Hinata and apologized and did the same for Neji. When Hasuki got up he gave him a passing word. "I'll walk you home Hinata." She nodded, said goodbye to those assembled and left with him and Akamaru.

Shino nodded to Naruto and gave Hasuki what had to be the creepiest goodbye Ino ever saw. While the skilled Jounin said "take care" it sounded more like "I'll strangle you in your sleep with a pair of dirty gym socks."

"Now that they're out of the way," Naruto said as he turned to the wobbling Hasuki. He grabbed him around his shoulders and threw him into the street.

"Naruto! Stop it now!" Ino screamed. Neji and Nezuji went after him and Ino took a minute to follow. She watched as Naruto pulled off the button down shirt he was wearing and threw it to Neji. Under it he was wearing the standard chest padded armor over a mesh undershirt. He took the padding off and tossed it down. Ino saw the short sword sticking vertically from his belt. He pulled it out slowly and placed it down with his armor.

What drew her eyes was his toned body. There were light scars on him. She could see a strange tattoo on his mid section as he gathered chakra.

_In his naval to be exact_.

The seal for the Kyuubi. In Ino's opinion the only mar on Naruto's flesh. As he stretched himself she watched his muscles ripple and move. Ino gulped and decided that she was lingering on Naruto. She felt something burn cold inside her chest and hot in her belly. She turned her gaze to Hasuki. He grunted and turned onto his rear. She suddenly saw him losing. The image of Naruto winning was so strong in her mind; she could see almost nothing else.

"Stand up…" Naruto ordered. Hasuki wiped blood from his lip and did as he was told. The moon decided to show itself. The light reflected off of their forehead protectors causing a momentary shadow to fall on their faces. "Normally I'd forgive assholes like you for spitting on me like that, but today it seems like a good idea to put you in your place."

He cracked his knuckles as Hasuki slid into the Jyuuken stance. "That won't work on him," Neji called. Hasuki turned to him and narrowed his eyes, "At least not your level."

"Cousin I believe-"

"BEHIND YOU!" Nezumi screamed. Naruto moved in that instant. He crashed his knee into the back of Hasuki's head sending him flying toward the small pile of Naruto's gear. The young Hyuuga screamed as his face connected with the dirt and rolled head over heels for a few meters.

_It…it feels like my head is coming off…_ he gasped as he tried to right himself.

"You were gonna say 'I am an idiot' right?" Naruto zinged as he landed. Hasuki scrambled to his feet, his eyes and face a testament to rage.

He slid into a different stance Naruto knew. He had seen Neji fight with it. The only difference was, Neji actually looked like he had practiced it. Naruto quickly leapt back five meters and cracked his knuckles together. The Hyuuga grunted and adjusted his stance slightly.

When he did Naruto barreled forward. The sudden movement threw Hasuki enough for him to act one second too slow. If he had been faster, Naruto's right hook would have missed and he would have gotten a high-powered hit to his spleen. Instead Hasuki was sent spinning to the ground once more.

"Naruto, that's enough he's learned his lesson," Neji said. Naruto nodded and as he turned he felt Hasuki get up. He turned and saw something. Hasuki was holding Naruto's short sword.

His face changed from one of mild interest to one of hatred. The marks on his face grew into gashes and Ino saw his teeth sharpen. "Put that down," Naruto ordered. His face was in shadow, as well as the rest of him, due to the clouds that now covered the moon. But his eyes were bright blue and glowing in the dark.

"Why? This mean something to you?" Hasuki asked. "Then it would be excellent to kill you with!"

The idiot took one step forward.

Sixteen Narutos were around him. Each one with a fist charged. They struck Hasuki at the same time at different areas of his body. The first four hit his head and face, the four behind them got his neck and shoulders, followed by his stomach and sides, and finally Naruto broke his legs.

Hasuki would have screamed if his mouth had not been muffled by two powerful fists. He twitched when the Narutos dispelled and fell back rolling in the dirt crying out as he went from holding one leg to the other. Naruto cracked his neck and grabbed his sword. Hasuki had dropped it after Naruto's attack. Naruto reached down and Hasuki cringed away from him. The blonde nin used Hasuki's shirt to clean the dirt and grim off the blade before sheathing it once more and putting it back on.

Naruto collected his padded armor from the ground and his shirt from Neji. He mumbled something to him and then turned to Ino, "Sorry Ino-chan…I just…"

"It's alright Naruto…Will you be okay…for the night?" she asked as she looked at Hasuki. He moaned loudly as Neji made his legs numb to reset the bones.

"Yeah. You better see to your teammate…" he slung his shirt over his shoulder and made his way from her. Ino watched him go for a minute before turning back to Hasuki.

"Hold still," she grunted as she began to heal him, as best she could. They eventually had to take him to the hospital. Neji had to leave to report the event, dreading how the Branch family elders would react. They had mixed feelings about Naruto, considering some were as spiteful as Neji had been. But they would understand considering Hasuki's nature.

Hopefully.

Ino sat in the waiting room until Shizune, who had been working on something came to see her. She told the younger woman that Hasuki's legs would be fine. Ino, relieved she wouldn't have to have any missions with him for a while, left and headed home. When she got there and she fell into bed she went to grab her mask and sleep, once again, with no dreams.

But this time, instead of seeing only black, she saw Naruto.

* * *

One month after the events with Hasuki…

"This mission is forward reconnaissance. Based upon what we see and find, the hunter team will, or will not enter the area." Nyosai turned his cold eyes on his three subordinates, all who were standing behind him. Hasuki, fresh from the hospital, gulped.

After the incident at the pub he gave both Ino and her group a wide berth. The Rookie Nine, plus team Gai, were very close. Through the tragic and hectic events in their lives life and death struggles had made them know not only themselves, but also each other. Because of that they have a strong feeling of companionship.

In very few cases are those disliked by one, not disliked by all. Hasuki not only managed to piss Kiba off, but he pissed of the unofficial leader of their click, Naruto. And now he knew why everyone was keeping their eye on the young ninja. His speed and strength was on par with his mentor's, either one you chose.

Ino herself was doing better, she was able to talk to Naruto openly, as the ANBU no longer followed her. She suspected after the visit from Nyosai they saw no need to monitor her outside her home, if they had they would have pulled her from active duty long ago. Ino felt cheated she wasn't given competent guards who could see how insane she was becoming.

Well, she's not really _insane_, unless your description for insane was having hallucinations about dead people killing you with rusty bloody swords.

Besides her new openness with Naruto she realized there was something very wrong with her. She had not only murdered her best friend, done nothing to either prove her guilt nor make amends, and now, she was lusting after her lover. The very thought made her feelings for Naruto both that much more desired and feared.

Ino saw Naruto in a new light after the scuffle with Hasuki, one that left her wanting him. He had felled a member of the elite Hyuuga clan in less than a few minutes, the final blow delivering injuries that were millimeters from being fatal. She had known he was strong, but she saw that he could also be furious. His skill had grown such the creation of clones was quick and quiet, not the big display of his earlier years.

He had become the most powerful ninja she knew. Ino hoped it was something deeper than the superficial crush she had on Sasuke. She also hoped it was deeper than the hunger for some physical activity such as a one nightstand. While the thoughts of Naruto displaying the cool cunning in the bed as well as the battlefield were enjoyable, but not something the mentally fragile Kunoichi should be focusing on.

The current mission she was on had to do with tailing an ex-Konoha ninja. He was considered an A-rank threat. To Ino, who had faced off against immortal devils like Kakuzu and Hidan of Akatsuki, and though she did not participate, she saw the final confrontation with Orochimaru before Naruto finally finished him, this mission seemed dull, if not that then pointless.

"Is that clear?" Nyosai finished. All three recruits nodded. "Good. Now! Let's go!"

They leapt into action, dashing from Konoha to the Land of Rice. The criminal, a powerful taijutsu user, was dwelling in a small village known for its massive varieties of spice used on rice. Ino and Hasuki, although strained, were ordered to follow around any allies he has and monitor their movements within the village. Nyosai would be watching the criminal, Kofu Shishimaru.

Ino and Hasuki watched his men for four days, they had an extremely strict schedule, and sent in their report. They met again with Nyosai and their teammate a hundred kilometers outside of the village. Hunkering down in the trees they prepare for the arrival of the hunter ninja.

"So…are we going to stay sir?" Hasuki asked.

Nyosai rubbed the chin of his mask and looked at his subordinates. "We're going to stay. They're sending a crack team to apprehend him, but they still will need help."

"You have me pegged sir…" all four ninja suddenly looked down. Sitting under the tree was Shishimaru. He looked up and smiled. He showed off a set of sharpened teeth under his mane of hair. A wide brimmed straw hat was tied to his head. He wore a traditional set of shinobi armor and was leaning against the tree they were in.

He stood and backhanded the tree. Ino had a split second to see a huge manifestation of air surround his hand. It took the form of a wolf's paw and crashed through the trunk. The four ninja leapt from the tree and landed in a clearing opposite from where he was standing.

He walked slowly into the clearing with them and whistled. The three men who Ino and Hasuki had followed appeared and changed back into their normal dog forms. "So…I guess I've finally become a big enough fish to be sought by the fishermen eh?" he asked.

"Kofu Shishimaru. You are under arrest for violating the treaties of Konoha and Suna. By doing so we have been given the order to capture you. If you surrender you will live."

He smiled. "Yeah…about that…" Kofu disappeared. Ino turned just in time to be backhanded into Hasuki and then out of the clearing. "You all are too weak to fight _me_! Let alone me and the combined might of the Azure Trio (sorry no Japanese for this)." The three dogs, all with a deep blue colored fur, seemed to snigger.

Nyosai gulped. He looked into the brush quickly, to see if Ino and Hasuki were okay, then back to Kofu. "You were always so arrogant…" he raised his hand to his radio and threw it into the air. It exploded and created a large cloud of black smoke. "If any ANBU are in the area they will respond in ten minutes."

"Then I have five to kill all four of you," Kofu roared.

_INUZUKA FAMILY TECHNIQUE! SHIKYAKU-NO JUTSU _(Down on all fours Technique)

Ino's eyes widened as she saw that. "He's a member of the Inuzuka clan?"

Nyosai laughed. "He was…but then he tried to usurp the clan and kill Inuzuka Tsume. He knew that only one with her great-grandfather's blood could rule the clan so he devised to _drain_ her blood."

The now feral Kofu smiled. "Heh. Heh. Those fools in the head part of the clan can only do so much. _I_ learned the Shikyaku no jutsu at the age of six! It took Kiba nearly eight years to master it! My skill is the true mark of leadership!" he turned to Ino and Hasuki.

"_AND I'LL SHOW IT NOW!_" he barreled at the two young jounin, who were frozen in their tracks.

Ino realized something with a smile. _I can die!_ Hasuki screamed at her and tried to pull her away, but she merely pushed him off and waited for the final blow that would equalize her and Sakura's fates.

"YOSUMAI!" Nyosai screamed.

_DO-TON: TEN-TATE NO JUTSU _(Earth Element: Steel Wall Technique)!

The third member of Ino's team slammed his hands into the ground and from it a huge slab of metal appeared in front of Ino, protecting her from the attack. "PATHETIC!" wind suddenly began top gather around him.

Ino's eyes widened. _No! I must die! I've committed the crime of killing my best friend! I took away the only one who ever truly loved Naruto! I should die! I MUST DIE!_

"Azure Trio! Come to me!"

The three dogs leapt to their master's aid. Nyosai watched in horror as Ino refused to move. He knew what she was going to do. _She's going to sacrifice her life…I didn't know her depression was that bad! Damn I should have seen it before! If she dies too…Naruto may unleash the Kyuubi…Ino don't you realize what you've become?!_

_FUU-TON: YONROGAGAN _(Wind Release: Four Wolf Fang Bullet)

The spiraling quartet ripped through the steel like it was mere wood. Kofu laughed as he made his tornado path towards Ino. Ino herself was crying for joy. She was finally going to get Sakura revenge by sacrificing her life.

_INO-CHAN!_

The voice ripped through the air. Before Ino knew it a lone ANBU man was standing in the way of the massive burst of cutting power. She recognized the coffee brown hair, the hands wrapped in bandages. She saw the lines from the wrappings of his head. His face and silver eyes were obscured by his turtle mask.

_HYUUGAZUKA JYUUKEN ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE!_ _KAITEN_ (Hyuuga House Gentle Fist Style: The Heavenly Spin)

The deflection of Neji's chakra sent Kofu so far off course he made a huge crater over twenty meters away from his intended target, Ino. Neji whirled to a stop and looked at Nyosai. "Report."

Nyosai gulped. Even though he was six years Neji's senior, he was lower ranked and far less powerful. "Yes…Kofu realized at some point we were following him. He decided to attack us. We have not been able to capture him."

A massive white dog with a rider landed deftly next to Neji and the rider dismounted. "I hated that jackass. Now he proves to be an even worse ninja than ever. Such a big out pouring of chakra. If Akamaru's nose got cut off he could still smell it. So captain what do we do? Take him out?" Kiba asked.

Neji crossed his arms and waited for Kofu to get up. The angered Nuke-nin (Missing Ninja) roared at them. "No. This is, after all, first and foremost an evaluation. Recruit!" Neji called. A third ninja landed behind him on one knee. Ino saw the short sword strapped to his back, his unruly blonde hair, and the grinning fox mask he wore. "Use only A and B ranked ninjutsu from the ANBU guide. Capture him alive. Complete this task in…" Neji looked at a small watch on his wrist, "seven minutes…"

"What a slave driver…fine…" the ANBU stood. He cracked his neck, shoulders, and knuckles.

_KAGE-BUNSHIN NO JUTSU_ (Shadow Clone Technique)!

Neji grunted and put a hand to his face. "I said A-rank Naruto…ugh…" he groaned. Kiba smirked behind his mask. Akamaru yipped happily, which sounded more like a lion's bellowing roar, and wagged his tail.

A mass of ten clones appeared around Naruto. They suddenly began to run around each other before charging toward Kofu in a moving crowd. He growled and clapped his hands together, making dozens of signs before drawing two short swords.

"DIE!" he roared throwing them. Naruto saw the wind chakra swirling around them and quickly made a barrier of clones. He made his own signs and the clones he had made suddenly merged into one big mud barrier. Kofu grunted as he watched his swords bury themselves to the hilt, yet not pierce the mud barrier.

"Naruto, behind you," Neji said softly. The blonde haired Nin had only seconds to react before the three dogs exploded from underground and latched onto him. He coughed up blood as one tried to rip his throat out.

Naruto smiled, as the dog smelled a massive amount of chakra.

_BUNSHIN DAIBAKUHA_ (Clone Great Explosion)

The force of the blast was so large it shattered Naruto's barrier and fried Kofu's swords. When the smoke and light from the blast cleared he saw that his dogs, were dog meat.

"You bastard! How dare you kill the Azure Trio?!"

"Shut up you son of a bitch," Naruto coughed from behind. Kofu spun like a top and struck at Naruto with his odd wind attack. Naruto drew his dosu with lightning quick speed and lobbed the hand off. Kofu screamed falling to his rear clutching his forearm.

Naruto quieted him by kicking his chin as hard as he could. Kofu, thankfully, had a glass jaw. As he fell back Naruto wiped the blood from his blade and sheathed it. He teleported, as even Ino could not follow him, to Ino, who had fallen to her knees, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Ino-chan? Are you okay?" he asked kneeling down by her.

"Yes Naruto…I'm fine…" she watched as Kiba strolled quietly over to Kofu and discretely let Akamaru piss on his unconscious form. "How did you get here so quickly?"

"Neji saw the smoke so we used Kiba's soldier pills. Are you sure you're okay?" he asked. She nodded once more. He helped her up and made sure she was stable on her feet before taking a step back from her. Ino and Naruto watched as Kiba used a weird jutsu to bind Kofu in bandages. Yosumai and Hasuki gathered bits and pieces of his dogs into a carrier Neji had summoned.

"Naruto…" Neji called. The young hunter Nin walked to him. They spoke quietly for a few seconds. What Neji had to say was obviously good as Naruto started to shake with excitement. He gave Neji a hug and jogged back to Ino.

"I'm an official Hunter ANBU as soon as we return to the village and we give Tsunade-baachan our report!" he said smiling under his fox mask. Ino returned his smile, as she knew he had one plastered all over his face, and nodded to him.

But deep inside her mind she was cursing Neji and Kiba for their soldier pills and eyes. If they had been a second, maybe even a millisecond later, Sakura's vengeance would have finally been had. Ino felt deep sadness, shielded by an even greater and deeper anger, rise.

"Now…I'll have the chance to kill them…" Naruto whispered.

Ino was pulled out of her silent angst by that.

She suddenly knew why Naruto wanted to be a Hunter ANBU.

They hunted down all criminals, even ones from other countries and villages, but they also reclaimed lost items of ninja history or wartime importance. If Naruto didn't know about the scroll, which he undoubtedly would not considering how adamant Tsunade had been, he would believe it was just a rare artifact that would be _hunted_ for retrieval. And the one who had it…

* * *

Naruto and Ino now could not get away from each other. Fate, or some equally powerful force, had pushed their lives together in such away it felt like a printing press. Ino grew so conscientious around him she wondered at times whether 'murderer' or 'killed your lover' had been stamped on her forehead. Even if it had, Naruto would not have seen it.

Ino, in her own self-disgust didn't notice how much Naruto was becoming endeared to her. The fact she believed he would act like he had as a child around girls he liked was the main cause. She never began to imagine he had matured as a romantic as well as Ninja. If she had, she would have made it her point to avoid him. Seeing that he would enjoy being with her as she would with him was dangerous.

Even though at this point Naruto only wanted companionship and not sex.

Naruto, who now got his missions exclusively from ANBU headquarters, was always around the place. His team usually consisted of fellow Rookie 12 (11) members. Kiba was frequently with him as Naruto had good relations with both Kiba's mother, Tsume, and his sister, Hana. Hana, being only a few years above the blonde was able to talk to him.

Ino, despite no claim to him whatsoever, grew increasingly jealous. Especially when Naruto and Hana were given a mission alone together that lasted two weeks. When they returned Hana and Naruto spent a small time training together before Hana had to return to her veterinarian duties. Ino's jealousy only grew when she heard from Hinata that Naruto and Kiba were getting close and the former was frequently over at the latter's house. Ino's image of Hana went from one of a respect worthy superior Kunoichi, to a hussy who didn't know her place.

She saw the younger girls, new recruits who were supposed to be emotionless, falling for Naruto. She didn't understand at first. It took a visit to the bathhouse, once she no longer looked like a skeleton under her clothes, for her to understand.

She was sitting with Tenten and Hinata when she heard Naruto's name. Ignoring it for the soothing waters of the spa/baths and continued in Tenten's discussion of Taijutsu users. When she heard his name again, followed by Sakura's once or twice, she turned and looked around and noticed three girls. One of them was Nezuji, who was looking very annoyed with her friends' conversation. Eventually she left in a huff and went to be by herself after saying:

"He's so stupid thinking he can beat a Hyuuga…" Ino did not miss her. A question from Tenten drew Ino back into her previous obligation, but it didn't stop her from moving away slightly from her comrades, making enough comments for her to be in the conversation but keep focus on her new target, to press her back against a rock to hear what they were saying.

"It's so sad!" a very stupid looking red head commented.

"I know!" her equally stupid looking brunette friend retorted. "But he's gotten better. I hear he joined the hunting division based upon commander Tsume's request! That means he was wanted and evaluated for at least five years! It takes less time to get into some colleges!"

"Is he really as handsome as Nezuji said he is?" the red asked.

Ino's eyes narrowed.

"Yes. I saw him once without his mask! I agreed to teach my little sister to fish right? So I take her and she gets bored so we play ball. She loses it of course and when I go into those really pesky bushes to find it a huge frog comes out of nowhere!"

"Gross!"

"I know! Then he shows up and says sorry for scaring me! He then whacks the frog on the head and tells it to get lost! He was only wearing his pants!" both girls made a horrendous squealing noise that made Ino want to kill them. She wondered if it was just girls like Nezuji that made her feel that way or she was in the beginning stages of some twisted misogyny. Normally she didn't feel this way. Really.

"What was he like?"

"He's sexy!" the girl said, suddenly quiet and serious. "His muscles were so big and toned and he had a sexy tan!" After giving details of Naruto's body that Ino did not mind remembering at all, the girl then leaned back and put her hand to her chin. "But it was weird he had this really creepy tattoo on his stomach…"

"What was it?" her friend asked.

"It looked like a seal."

"Maybe he uses it to turn into a bishounen?"

That squeal again.

Ino, having enough, stood up and grabbed her towel and made her way to leave.

"Something wrong Ino-chan?" Tenten asked, she referred to all the younger women this way.

"I'm just not feeling well. I'm going home to get ready for a new mission." Hinata and Tenten said their goodbyes and Ino walked out of the bath. She couldn't help using her family technique to make the girls attack each other before leaving.

After that little incident, Ino began to focus less on Sakura, and more on Naruto. Their visits went from random chance, to non-binding agreements like if Ino was going to be around the shopping district Saturday they could get groceries together or if Naruto was close to the river on Wednesday they could train together.

After two months of this Naruto finally worked up the nerve to ask Ino out. The question came as such a shock to her she could barely believe it. They had been sitting at the Ichiraku Ramen stand. Ino, who had grown a hunger for the food as great as Naruto's own, was happily slurping her noodles when he asked her.

She choked on them and barely had enough strength to give her answer. "Uh…well…" she was going to say no. The fact she had killed his lover was only one of the many things wrong with it. But when she saw he really wanted to go with her. She couldn't help but say, "Yes…" quietly.

The date started out awkward, but when Ino and Naruto saw that Kakashi was going to see the last showing from of the final part of the Make-Out Paradise movie and book series, it went better.

They spent a good two and half hours watching Kakashi, as he was one of the only people in there for actually plot, get into the movie. Both ninja had a good laugh at his expense. They left before the credits rolled, knowing full well that the Lazy-ninja would want to stay for anything they put after them.

When the date ended after a nice small dinner, Naruto took Ino home and told her goodnight. There was a tender moment when he thought about kissing her, but he settled for a peck on the cheek before leaving. Ino watched him go and went back inside.

Little did he know that if he _had_ kissed her Ino's lust and hunger for him would have been unleashed. Even if Naruto could not sense it, Ino knew herself well by now. She was slightly thankful for Naruto's shyness. At the same time however, she wanted him badly.

The action of closing the door, leaning against it, and sliding to the floor, had become so common to Ino she mused the idea of keeping a cushion near the door. She went upstairs and fell into her bed, and went to sleep. She promised to thank whatever god gave her the grace of a sleep without Sakura, and without her mask.

Once again, she dreamt of Naruto.

* * *

The eventual words were spoken.

Ino and Naruto were dating, unofficially. To say Ino was conflicted was to say the ocean had some water in it. Her hunger for retribution had been dulled by the impact of her feelings for Naruto. While she was able to convince herself it wasn't going anywhere, it still didn't change the fact every time Naruto gave her a smile, one she remembered from his days with _her_ (Ino could no longer even think Sakura's name) she felt dirty.

She blamed it on her obscene amount of guilt.

One day, nearly two months after the first date, Ino sat in a booth at her team's favorite barbeque shop and looked out at the sky. The sound of someone sitting down made her turn to see Shikamaru. He sat across from her and looked out at the area her eyes had been.

"How are you?" he asked.

"Why?" she retorted.

"Hey Shikamaru, Ino," Chouji said as he sat down next to Ino. She nodded to him. He had a sad, knowing look on his face. Ino took a moment to be herself and take in a breath.

"What's wrong you guys?"

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head, "I'm surprised _you_ don't know Ino."

"What?" she said looking from one to the other. Chouji had a sad smile on his face now. "Come on tell me what is it?" she asked, this time putting more emphasis on her words.

"Next Sunday…it's Sakura's birthday Ino," Chouji replied after a moment of silence.

Ino stared at him. It was Saturday today. So in eight days Sakura would, if Ino had been more alert, turn twenty-four. Ino suddenly felt ill. She had noticed a general melancholy had come over Naruto; he was constantly spacing out, or avoiding talking to her.

Ino had no idea why, until now.

She asked Chouji to move and hurriedly got up. Her two oldest friends, as her truly oldest was now long gone, watched her go. Chouji glanced at Shikamaru who only sighed.

"How troublesome…"

* * *

Ino staggered through the village. Her mind wandered to times past. The little things from her days before killing Sakura that made her happy. Now they all seemed to be like a massive noose. Each happy memory one of thousands of threads that would eventually bind together around her throat. And strangle what was left of her life out of her.

And she knew who exactly would be her executioner. The one man who she now loved. Yes could she really lie to herself anymore? Naruto held the noose because he was the greatest memory of all.

Ino never admitted to anyone, not even herself, but she admired Sakura and Naruto. To the point Sasuke would have been a secondary consideration if not for their childish rivalry. Ino had grown up beautiful to most people. But to her own eyes she seemed a bit bland. Her blonde hair was unusual; her blue eyes even more so. Living in a place where the only other known blondes were a dead Hero and a growing attraction in Hokage candidates had been odd.

It made her see her mediocre performance in everything as something horrid and lacking. Naruto surpassed her in skill in a mere two and half years so quickly he was now so strong her life was like a brittle twig in his hands. Even Sakura, whose sensei was one of the Sannin an idol to all young Kunoichi around the country, was better than her in everything.

Thinking about this Ino wondered slightly to herself if she _did_ recognize Sakura when she attacked her. if that pink hair was spotted by even her half blind eyes. If she knew the scent of her perfume or her body. The thought made Ino's predicament seem Shakespearian in struggle and level.

She secretly loved her best friend's lover. He grew into what she always wanted and she desired him. In a fit of political intrigue she accidentally killed her friend…or _did_ she?!

The irony made her laugh. When Konoha's blue skies opened and unleashed a flood down on her in one fluid sweep she laughed even harder.

It only occurred to her where she had been walking to after she stood in front of _his_ door. She stared at it. It was painted a dull orange, from either time or the rain. Her shadow fell across it in such a way she looked at the thirteen year old named Yamanaka Ino who was so pig headed she had to fight her best friend over a stupid boy that liked neither of them.

She hiccupped.

She couldn't take it anymore. She was so lonely. She was so tired. She wanted to just rest. Her greatest joy would be to be mugged here, killed and to die after falling into some sort of coma. That would be fore her soul.

Her body, on the other hand, would love nothing better than to knock on _his_ door. Fall into _his_ arms. And either loose herself in sleep or _his_ scent and love.

If he didn't know she had killed Sakura.

So, once again, she let her body take over. She knocked on the door. There was a loud curse. "So now you fuckers are _knocking_?" Naruto called. He pulled reached the door faster than she was ready for. "_I'm not in the mood!_" he roared as he opened the door. Ino gasped and took a step back. Naruto was so vividly…_evil_ looking she believed she was gazing into some terror. He had the look of a man who had found his mortal enemy, and knew that nothing besides death would end their dispute.

When he saw Ino, wet and obviously distraught, his anger and resentment faded. "Ino-chan? What…what are you doing here?" he asked. She saw embarrassment fill his eyes. He looked around and tried to sense anyone else.

"You…"

"What?"

"I came here for you Naruto…"

He looked into her eyes. He moved out of her way and ushered her into his home. Ino didn't resist. Again her mind was not doing anything besides watching. He set her down on a large fabric couch that mismatched his interior horribly. Ino didn't mind. The simple fact there was a purely bachelor touch seemed to scream Naruto. She saw that some parts of the apartment were painted blue and others orange. She smirked. He appeared before her with not only a bundle of towels and clean clothes, but also a warm cup of tea. She smiled lovingly and took the tea.

She drank it all in one go. Naruto watched her. "The bathroom is just down the hall. Do you want me to show you?" she nodded. Naruto took her hand and helped her up. The feeling of his warm and worn hand made Ino's mind snap back to her body. Sakura's hand had been so cold…and so smooth. The fact Naruto, alive and helping her with no explanation besides she had _come_ to him made all that she felt since Sakura's death at her hands seem trivial.

She could get over it…with his help.

"Naruto…" she whispered when he realized she wasn't moving and looked back at her.

"Yes Ino-chan?" asked the man she loved gently.

"Could…you…ever love me?' she asked. Her eyes had already begun to water. Her tears would come no matter what he said. If he said yes, she would be able to live again, live for him. If he said no…

Well she was already dead, her body only needed to catch up.

He regarded her and stood to face her fully. The immature, loud, and hurt young boy she had seen during her youth was gone. Now a man stood before her. he held her hand and slowly put down the extra clothes, a jounin uniform that was no doubt too big for her, and towels. With his free hand he brushed some stray, wet hairs from her face.

"Ino…" she was about to cry. She felt the tears come fully. He ignored them. "When Sakura died I thought…no I knew something died with her. She was the one girl I loved all my life. Even now I can't tell you what made me love her for so long. So when she was gone…I thought I would be alone for the rest of my life…after finding someone to be with."

Ino's free hand rose, much like Hinata's would in their younger days, again her actions and movements were ignored by the blue eyes of Naruto.

He smiled as he pulled her closer and held her. she cried into his shoulder. She mumbled something incoherent about how she was getting his _good_ orange shirt wet. She fascinated herself. What this man said could determine whether the next time she was in a bathroom was for pleasure or pain and she was still being a smart ass.

"Of course I could love you Ino…and I do. I've loved you for a long time now…" she pulled back and looked at him. Her tears were still coming, but now he was under some deep scrutiny. "If you can believe you aren't a substitute…then we can try Ino. Sakura was my best friend…and my lover. I lost both of them and you lost your friend…I'll try to be both. So you won't be lonely ever again."

"Naruto…" she sniffed. He smiled and kissed her tears away. When one cheek was free he kissed the other and then moved to her neck. She knew he was avoiding her lips intentionally. Ino was not going to stand for _that_. She was broken, sad, lonely, and partially insane, but she would _be damned_ if her lover didn't give her a true kiss!

She grabbed his head forcefully and kissed him hard. Their lips were pressed together with such strength they were crushed between two sets of teeth. Naruto pulled her hands off and pulled the kiss back enough to lick her lower lip. She responded by opening her mouth and allowing him entry to her mouth.

Within minutes Ino was stripped of her wet clothes. She blushed and looked away. The subsequent loss of and regaining of fat during her depressive first few days left her with light but still visible stretch marks. Naruto was looking at her. she saw a light in his eyes that was not mild interest or disgust. It was true want.

Honest desire. He picked up a towel and wrapped her head in it. She blushed and looked down as he patted her hair dry. She realized what he was doing. The kindness and tender movement to a second towel for her body made her shiver. He ignored nothing. There was no awkwardness as she had expected. He accepted her body, and was showing that by making sure she was dry, to protect her from cold.

When he was satisfied with his work he pulled her close, a look of simultaneous determination and care was crossed on his features. He guided her away from the direction of the bathroom and to his bedroom. There he discarded his clothes, pausing slightly when he pulled from his waistband the dosu. Ino for a moment felt trapped. She felt wrong. In one swift strike, or one long torturous experiment, that sword could kill her.

But he cast it aside with the rest of his things.

The movement to her was quiet and humbling. Ino would never be able to move like that in her life. It chilled her to know that his abilities continued to grow aroused her even more. She sighed when he took hold of her and pulled her close.

And then, there was no separation of them. They were one. When Naruto noticed Ino wincing he leaned back from her body and looked at her. "You were a virgin…" he said softly. It was like he was confessing to a crime.

One blue eye opened and looked at him. "Yes…"

Then the only words they spoke were each other's names.

It had been close to eight when Ino entered Naruto's home. By midnight they were finished. Ino was wrapped in the blankets of Naruto's bed while he made his way to the laundry room of his building to was and dry her clothes. As he sat in the warm room he looked outside and smiled.

"I'll keep my promise Sakura-chan…" He looked at a collection of stars in the sky. "Sleep well Sakura…Ino has helped me let you go piece by piece…now all I need to do is kill those bastards that killed you. Once I do that I'll let you go forever. And I'll give Ino the happiness she deserves."

Naruto didn't know that as he spoke those words Ino shuddered. The warmth given to not only the bed but the sheets and the room fled from the window crashing open. The air itself turned against her. and a lone tear froze on her cheek before crumbling away.


	6. The Evidence

Author's Note: Hey, been a while. Too much to go into, enjoy the new chapter. If you've ever read The Garden you'll get a bit of a treat in this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

In his arms, things just felt right_ again_. It didn't matter that Sakura had been murdered (_by her_), it didn't matter that Naruto had a demon inside of him. It truly didn't matter at all. Nothing did.

Except for his scent. And the sound of his breathing. And the beat of his heart. Their first night together had been Ino's first night with any man.

And she had not been given any reason to want to stop.

When she awoke she had only known the warmth and feeling of comfort of being near him. It was if she had found an old toy or blanket from her childhood and fallen asleep remembering her days of innocence.

And bloodlessness.

She snuggled deeper into Naruto's bare chest and kissed him. A playful side of her nudged her to bite his nipple tenderly. He let out a loud and rude snore followed by the absent scratching of his crotch. A vein bulged out of her forehead. Her eye twitched and she grinned, bearing fangs akin to the Kyuubi's frequent snarling continence.

_I've heard of some _very_ interesting ways to wake men up…time to test them out…eheh hehe…_

Slowly, ever so slowly, Ino slid her hand down Naruto's body his snoring catching several times, when he did she froze, barely even breathing. Soon she found her target and took a mere moment to contemplate what she was doing.

If I were to compare it, the length of time was equal to the amount Naruto took to choose his ramen order.

Her hand clasped around Naruto's length causing him to shudder before she charged chakra into her hand in a manner similar to the Shosen (Heavenly Palm). The thought of the healing technique's name made her giggle even more as she stroked her lover's privates.

Within a minute or two Naruto was reacting. His face became flushed and his skin hotter than she had felt it even last night. She felt the hardness and had another small bout of giggles before a hand suddenly found her own secret place and began to abuse _it_. A finger was tracing her shape before moving her labia out of the way and twisting inside. A subtly and just sharp enough nail bit into her clitoris and wiggled it back and forth.

For some reason this stimulation caused her to shudder violently. She buried her face into Naruto's chest, her tongue lolling out and rolling over his skin. A apart of her wanted to find his nipple and nibble on it again while she had this great sensation flowing through her. Soft laugher made her look up. She gasped as she realized Naruto was grinning at her.

"Well…I only thought it fair…" he said his smile becoming vulpine.

Ino gaped at the demon container before she lowered her face. "Hey! It's fine Ino-chan it felt really-"

Ino leapt up and landed on top of him, a sly smile on her face. "_Now_ I'm horny too."

_O-oh shit!_ _Sex crazed kunoichi!_

**Xxxxx.xxxxx.xxxxX**

After their second romp Naruto was sitting in his kitchen sipping his morning cup of ramen. He groaned and stretched his sore muscles. Part of him hated the Fox, but was thankful for the healing. He only wished it could get rid of more than visible damage. However, the blush that grew on his cheeks as he thought of _why_ he was sore made him chuckle.

_Maybe I've created a monster_…he thought to himself.

He tossed the cup into an open bin trash can and had reached into his cupboard for another when Ino stepped into his line of sight. He smiled as he saw she hadn't taken the time to dry her hair. It may have been the fact he only had enough clean towels for her body, causing her still somewhat wet hair to hang limply around her face and chest. But that didn't really matter. She looked beautiful to him anyway.

"Y'know," he said as the water he had prepared reached a boil, "one could say you've become quite the lewd and dangerous woman Ino-chan. Seducing me and ravaging me like you did."

The other blonde smiled crookedly and leaned on the lintel of the kitchen. "Riiight…" she said. "And you molesting me is better?"

Naruto shook his hand and a second set of chopsticks appeared. Ino blinked. "You molested me first," he scoffed. Ino laughed and sauntered over to him, swinging her hips in a very exaggerated manner before holding him. He set his ramen down, much to her happiness, and hugged her.

"Naruto…"

"Yeah Ino-chan?"

She looked up at him, his face. He was smiling at her, a tender and somewhat protective look gracing his angular features.

Something in Ino snapped. It had to be those eyes of his, so warm and caring. The fact even in death Sakura had shown her the same eyes. It tore at her, it ripped into her, and she couldn't take it any longer. Tears fell from her eyes. She hitched her should and buried her face further into his chest.

"I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry!"

Naruto's brow furrowed. _What had she done? Is she apologizing for when we were kids? Well she _did_ call me ugly one day…but that was _years_ ago I wonder..._

"Ino…why do you say you're-"

"It was me!" she yelled. "It was me that ki-"

The door to Naruto's home rattled loudly in its frame. Naruto's head had snapped in that direction. He tightened his hold on Ino and felt a little bit of rage envelope him.

"Who is it?" he roared, clearing the extreme space from the kitchen to the front door.

"Message Uzumaki-san! From Tsunade-sama!"

Naruto grumbled verbally and squeezed her. "Sorry." He smiled sadly and moved away from Ino to open the door. "WHATTAYA WANT?!" she heard. She also heard the sputtering of the, obviously, female ANBU to Naruto's topless state. "This early in the damn morning! Tell that Ba-chan that the next time she sends one of these I'll ban plum sake when I'm Hokage got it! Thanks!" there was a loud smack sound accompanied by an 'eep!' before Naruto reappeared.

Ino, despite her previous attempted revelation blinked, "What was that about?"

Naruto, who had been reading the scroll looked at her, "Oh that's just Kosuna. I used to train her as her ANBU captain. She became Tsunade's messenger around last year so I'm still a bit rough with her."

"I was talking about the," Ino swatted the air.

The big blonde grinned lecherously, "I like to give a little bit of motivation to the younger generation. Even if it includes a sore rear end!" he chuckled.

The smaller blonde's forehead suddenly displayed a very pronounced vein. "You have some nerve Uzumaki. I spend all night, and most of this morning mind you, giving myself over to you and you go molest some young girl for no reason that 

you can?" she sighed and put her fingers to her forehead, tilting her head back, "Men, such brutal beasts they are to us maidens!"

"You just admitted to nearly sixteen hours of sex dear, Maiden you ain't." He grunted and rolled the scroll before crushing it in his hand. "Bloody old woman…"

"What is it?" Ino asked, her playfulness abated.

"She wants me to help her out with a diplomacy negotiation later today. I have to report in early and get debriefed on the dignitaries," each word he said was accented with a snort, grunt, or other sound of displeasure. "I miss the good old days when she would hand me a scroll and go 'Naruto, blow this up, it's annoying me.'" For emphasis he had momentarily transformed into Tsunade and mocked the gesture before turning back.

Ino, despite herself, asked, "Why are you able to change into women better than you can into men?"

Naruto grinned, his teeth seeming to sharpen, "didn't you know Ino-chan?" She shook her head. "It's a specialty of Kitsune!"

**Xxxxx.xxxxx.xxxxX**

One, Uzumaki Naruto. Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi Youko and Jounin of Konohagakure no Sato.

One, Tsunade of the Sannin. Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato.

One, Houmatsu Onfu, village head of Tenyo village.

One, Kame Nuto.

Today these four are within a special council room in the Hokage Tower trying to even out a small trade dispute between Tenyo, Suna, and Konoha. Naruto doesn't want to be here because he would rather be Ino. Tsunade doesn't want to be here because she would rather be drinking sake. Houmatsu doesn't want to be here because Naruto and Nuto both scare him. Nuto doesn't want to be here because he is the single most paranoid person on the continent. He was currently not only using a rebreather, but also had on most protective gear that was worn during intense and deadly sandstorms.

He also had a charming little nickname for Konoha ninja and for their Hokage. Leaf-Head and Leaf-Head-on-Fire, respectively.

"Yeah, so…" Naruto began.

"Leaf-head, please be quiet." Nuto snorted. He, unlike most Suna-ninja, did not instantly love Naruto for making Gaara not crazy. Personally Nuto was more apt to trust a crazy Kazekage than a not crazy one. But Nuto was not one to talk on being crazy and the like.

"What did you call me you mechanized piece of-"

"Naruto enough!" Tsunade roared. "Nuto…what is Suna's position?"

Nuto took a sip of tea through a special liquid filter on his mask, "Suna's position is we will pay to buy their goods."

"Good. Now, Houmatsu, what is Tenyo's position?" she asked the small, somewhat balding man.

"We require guards for our goods. They are valued and we have already lost two shipments due to bandits. We request a discount on protection fees for shipments to and from Suna."

"Good, now Nuto is that beyond your authority?"

He sipped more tea, "Just a little bit…"

"Great…just…great…" Naruto sighed. _I'm gonna be here all. Damn. Day…_

Naruto, sadly, was correct. Not only did Nuto not have any authority to make changes he was also both apathetic and absurdly deterrent to any sort of change. It took three hours for him merely to assert he would quote, 'remember to kind of maybe ask the Kazekage for help' when he returned to Suna. In effect, making the entire day a wasted and useless affair. Tsunade refunded the poor village chief's fees for negotiation stating that it wasn't needed. She also arranged for an escort back to his home village on the borders of the Fire country.

She flopped down on her lounging couch in her office. "Ne Naruto…come here and give an old lady a pillow will you?" she asked lovingly. Naruto gave a lopsided grin and sat down next to her. Almost immediately she fell onto his lap, laying over him. Naruto had found out a few years ago that Tsunade enjoyed being doted on, especially after such a tiring day. He messaged her shoulders and back, never straying too far down or around.

Tsunade was a beautiful woman, but she _was_ the Hokage and his superior in almost every way.

The older woman sighed loudly as the soreness in her body was slowly wiped away. "Thank you Naruto." She nuzzled into him and became disquietly close. Naruto's hands left her and she sat up. "Sorry…old memories from an old woman," she said an obvious flush on her face.

"It's okay Tsunade."

She looked at the ground and folded her arms over her stomach. "Sometimes…I wish that I had said yes to that old fool at least once. Then…" tears swam at the edges of her eyes. Naruto embraced her, pulling her back to him. She just rested against the young man whom she had watched age and mature. Suddenly, feeling the strength of his form, made her seem so much older and frailer than she had been moments before.

But, as with Dan and Jiraya, she didn't feel in danger at all.

In this position Tsunade felt that small barrier she had thrown up between them bend a little. She had always kept Naruto in the back of her mind. Over the years she had come so close many times to breaking that barrier. One of those times, during a very late and very bad night of close calls in the hospital during a failed mission on Akatsuki, had been so close she didn't speak to Naruto for nearly a week. What was worse, even more than the look on his face after she had kissed him, was that he had apologized as if it was _his_ fault.

_Damn this boy…why did he have to be so perfect?..._she asked herself.

"Naruto," her voice, Naruto felt a shudder ripple through him as he remembered that one night.

He pushed her up and held her face. "I'm sorry Tsunade…but you know we can't do that."

Her eyes softened, "You…you'll have me even if you don't have Sakura."

He smiled, that almost sad smile he kept on reserve, "I know. I'll also have Ino-chan now too."

The world froze for Tsunade. "What?"

Naruto blushed. "Well yeah me and Ino-chan kinda-"

"Yamanaka Ino?" she asked.

"Uh yeah…is there any other Ino in Konoha?"

Tsunade stood rigidly, her back to him. She clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes, she was thankful Naruto couldn't see the look on her face. Few men or women had and lived to tell the tale. Many had died with craters in their bodies and missing limbs after seeing that face. "I'm sorry for this but I have an urgent meeting. Take a few days off Naruto. We haven't gotten anything recently that needs your attention."

"Uh…okay Tsunade," he stood and walked around, trying to see her face, but she had turned from him and went to look out the window. "I'll…see you around. I'll be home or training so-"

"I'll get the message to you."

The curt reply stung a bit, but Naruto understood something was wrong. He didn't know what, and doggedly hoped it had nothing to do with his choice in Ino. But a deep, a rumbling part of him, snickered. He held his stomach as he felt a welling of amusement from _him_.

**Xxxxx.xxxxx.xxxxX**

Tsunade waited until she saw Naruto zip off into the setting sun. Her mask of indifference and slight aggravation gave way to the face of hatred and intense anger she felt. _That stupid little girl. What gave her the right to even _think_ she could be with him? After what she did?_

"SHIZUNE!"

The attendant used her rarely displayed skill to appear at her mistress' side. "Yes Tsunade-sama."

"Send word to Yamanaka Ino. I want her here. _Now_."

Shizune nodded, "At once."

And she was gone.

**Xxxxx.xxxxx.xxxxX**

Ino, who was sitting in a small café, looked up at the darkening sky. Naruto had told her meetings like that would be both boring and draining, especially if a certain Suna representative was there. He had warned her it was best if she didn't wait up for him. She was a bit sad that she wouldn't be able to see him until tomorrow.

But then again she could always sneak into his house. A slight smile came to her lips and she gave up a small flurry of giggles. They were halted quickly by the appearance of a small bird in the sky. She narrowed her eyes and made out the signet strapped to its leg. It was a summons to see the Hokage.

Normally, Ino's new disposition and the odd time of day would make her flinch and feel a new sense of terror, but now she felt only that good things can happen. She had not only been able to open to Naruto but found that her many nights wishing for the comfort he brought were finally realized made her nearly impervious to any bad disposition.

Until she entered the tower and saw Shizune waiting for her. The look on her face was not only solemn but somewhat strained, as if she was trying to hide something. "Hello Shizune-san," Ino said softly. She didn't want to sound informal, but she wished she knew the woman's damn maiden name…did anyone know that?

Shizune wordlessly escorted her up the stairs to their mutual master's office, where she waited by the door. Ino heard Tsunade call, 'enter' and did as she was bade. The feeling of anger and pure rage that had filled the room engulfed Ino. No one outside of her family knew of how powerful emotions could be. Yes it was true almost all ninja could sense not only chakra but also bloodlust, but few of them could sense all emotions.

And now Ino wished desperately she could not.

There was a mere moment of silence. Ino wondered what would happen.

"Are you plain stupid or is it a gift?" Tsunade asked her. The voice did not match the flood of emotions. It was too calm, and it only enhanced the impact of her anger.

Stuttering Ino replied, "Wh-wh-what do you-u mean Tsunade-s-sama?"

"What do I mean?" The elder woman asked. "What do I MEAN?! Sleeping with Naruto when you _killed_ the woman who was in your place slightly more than half a year ago!" Tsunade slammed her fist down powerfully on the top of her desk. It was a sturdy wood made especially for her strength. Even so, it cracked. "Ino let me inform you of something: Naruto has had one of, if not _the_ shitiest lives in this village! People hate him without even knowing him! He has no family! He had no money besides a stipend from the Third! He came from quite literally _nothing!_ It took him years to stand on his own two feet and see he had to do things on his own or die like a dog. And now…YOU!" she roared pointing an accusing finger at Ino, "dare try and fuck that up by doing the most idiotic thing I have ever heard of!"

Ino was appalled. She had never seen Tsunade so damn _venomous_! The noble image of the village elder had taken more than a few hits in Ino's mind, and it was with that forceful jab in the air that made Ino finally want to speak her mind.

"Why…" Ino had lowered her head and clenched her teeth. Her fists shook with rage and bled as her nails pierced the soft flesh.

"What was that?" Tsunade grunted.

"Why is it wrong to try and be happy with him?" cried the distraught girl. No now the distraught _woman_. "_I_ want to be with him and _he_ wants to be with _me_! Why is that wrong Tsunade-_sama_? If I remember correctly it was YOU that told me to forget that mission happened and to live my life! I wanted to die but you only could think about the village! Anything he thinks of me is directly linked to what _you_ told me to do!" she roared, throwing out her own accusing point.

Tsunade had, in true surprise, not expected Ino's outburst and had been humbled by it. However, she had been in situations akin to this more times than she cared to admit, so she was well versed in dealing with surprise.

"Because…" she began finding her words carefully, and slowly, "what if he finds out you killed Sakura?" Tsunade asked, her composure held expertly. "Can you imagine? The destruction alone would cripple our village. Never mind the deaths that would result. Naruto is already receiving more of the Fox's chakra than normal. If he loses control of himself and the fox…"

"What…what do you mean? Naruto can't be _that_ strong…" Ino sighed. She felt like she was in a dream. Tsunade had drifted off and had said that without thinking of Ino, and now that she had…

Ino's eyes bulged unsightly. She thought about that. She saw him cleanly and effectively kill those ninja dogs. She saw him slice off Kofu's wrist like it was a piece of bread. She heard his cry of rage. And then she saw him turn the new, clean tombstone to rubble with one hand.

Yes…he and the demon fox _would_ become one. She knew it plain as day. And she knew that in the eye of that hurricane would be her and the entire village.

"Now do you understand why I am so angry? If you let slip what you did, in grief, in passion, in anything the emotional shock could be enough to allow the fox to supplant Naruto's personality, ensuring both yours and Naruto's deaths. While _you_ may want to die, I don't want Naruto to suffer for it!" Ino gaped at her, "Yes I know about it. You think Nyosai wouldn't tell you were standing straight in the line of a fatal attack?"

Ino cursed Nyosai's bones and face, and name, and for good measure, the whore that birthed him.

"So if you must die Ino, die on a mission where Naruto can avenge you swiftly."

**Xxxxx.xxxxx.xxxxX**

Tsunade's words had hit home on Ino. Had she not done what the old ninja woman had been scared of just that morning? That thought chilled Ino's blood enough for it to freeze in her veins. All of the happiness and warmth that had been given to her by Naruto's embrace now seemed to be a dream, one that was only supplanted over a nightmare.

She was desperately grasping onto him, she had run to his home after her talk with Tsunade. She was hungry for the love, for the mere feeling of safety she had in Naruto's arms.

Like that morning he gave it to her.

_It's fine Ino-chan…I'll watch over you. Keep you safe…even if you did kill Sakura._

Her head snapped up to look into his eyes. They weren't blue, they were red and feline. Deadly little blades that danced as they looked at her. _What's wrong. Is there something on my face?_...he asked as he spread his arms. His fingers ended in evil sickle blades. Each tooth had become a pointed fang. His bare chest and arms were coated with a fine layer of velvet fur. His hair had extended to reach his tailbone, and from that bone _they_ came.

Nine tails. Each deeply colored, a type of orange blonde. Their tips were as black as ink and seemed to drip power. They flailed around softly, almost waving at her. His kitchen left and was replaced by an encroaching blackness. A dark pool that filled everything.

As they passed by, in a fan like shape, she saw someone standing behind Naruto. The flash of color, like cherry blossoms, and the sea green eyes made Ino sick. She fell to her knees and retched on the ground. Not because of the hair and eyes, but because of what was _on_ them.

Blood from a head wound had caked over Sakura's once vibrant orbs making them an ugly tinted color. Her hair was wet and soggy and hung around her face like a twisted veil. Her left breast had been destroyed from the inside and deflated. Its contents, along with the blood and fluids from her chest, poured down her front and pooled at her feet.

Clenched in her hand was Ino's sword.

_You look so shocked Ino-chan. Did you really think I wouldn't find out? I mean it's easy to read women after sex. Especially for virgins like you. I knew the moment you came that you were the murderer. It was only a matter of time until I got everything ready for your revenge. Look, Sakura-chan has already picked out your parting gift!_

The apparition threw the tainted weapon at Ino. The collision of it caused her to fall backward. Before she could react Sakura had leapt and landed on her, straddling her stomach before grabbing hold of her neck.

_A disgusting death for a disgusting life. Fitting end for you Ino-chan_…the demonic incarnation of Naruto replied.

Soon Ino felt the pressure on her throat grow so great she couldn't even move her jaw. The pain was too stifling. She shuddered as the last vestiges of strength left her body. With a final jerk Ino let herself slip away.

As the darkness invaded her vision she saw Sakura's dead lips move. No sound came from them, but she could read the words easily.

_I forgive you…_

**Xxxxx.xxxxx.xxxxX**

Ino sat up so fast she nearly tumbled off of her couch. Her eyes flew around in their sockets trying to focus on anything, _anything_, which could tell her what had happened in the span of seconds after she died. Subtly, slowly, her mind returned to its full, or at least functional, order. She had come home, after what Tsunade had said, and fallen asleep. From there the demented vision had come to her.

She sighed and held her head in her left hand, her right dangling off the side of the couch. Everything about that dream had dissipated, but not the feeling of despair that had come over Ino in those last few moments. She felt the pressure on her neck as if she was just healing from the bruises. She shook as if she had just seen the terrible picture of Naruto merged with the Kyuubi. She knew, at least as a novice med nin, the second Sakura had put more than four pounds of force she would have been dead. But that didn't matter, because she wasn't dead.

She was still alive.

While Sakura wasn't.

And Naruto…oh god…Naruto!…

Ino buried her face in her knees and wept. There was a clatter to her right, near the floor. She lifted her head just enough and froze. Her sword. The nindo katana, a Kodachi of moderate make and price. She had been _holding_ it. But…it had been in her room. Under a loose floor board! Did she get it in her sleep?! What…what happened? When did she get it? Was it before she went to sleep?! What was wrong with her?!

WHY DIDN'T SHE REMEMBER?!

Her mind raced through similar chaotic thoughts.

It crossed the finish line of one focal desire.

The trophy was the thoughts she had at one time embraced and then summarily ruled out.

Seppuku.

Ino swung her legs over the side and stood like she wasn't going to do it, like she was merely going to hold the sword in her hands and wonder how much it would hurt. But then she held it, crouching down on her knees. Her mind's eye foresaw a splash of blood like in movies, but she knew it would only be a trickle, especially once she began to cut upwards and to the side to make a nice little 'T' shape.

There was no time to make a suicide note. Who would believe her if she told all anyway? No one. Most likely she was being watched now. They would take the note and replace it with another. Especially if it held anything confidential.

She drew the sword. It was dark in the room because her hallucination had reminded her to get her sword but not to turn on the lights. She didn't care. The moon had come out at that moment. The large window doors that went to her patio slammed open with a crash and let a cool wind into the room. The purple curtains glided only as far as their arms could reach, like phantoms.

Tears fell down Ino's cheeks as she smiled and held the blade aloft. Its red gleam filled the room and cast her blue eyes in the color of violet.

"Goodbye Father, mother, Shikamaru, Chouji, Sasuke-kun…" she pictured his smiling face. That blonde idiot who had annoyed both her and Sakura as girls. And then he had been there, more mature than Chouji, and calmer than Shikamaru in her last few moments of girlhood.

"Naruto…"

The blade flew through the bedroom air. As the tip of the blade begged to touch her flesh, _his_ voice called from the very wind.

_I'll keep you warm and safe Ino-chan. I promise you'll never be lonely, hurt, or scared again. As long as I live. I swear on my nindo (ninja path or way)._

_I love you Ino-chan._

Ino sobbed and fell forward. The action caused her to miss herself and only scrape her dress with the blade's tip. She landed on her front and sobbed loudly. Her tears flooded out from her eyes. She couldn't kill herself. Again _his_ words had saved her. His warmth, his breath, his heartbeat.

She heard a raging sound from the bottom of her mind Sakura, the dead one who could not speak was screaming at her to finish, but she couldn't do it. If she did, with no note or explanation, Naruto would question. He would find out from Tsunade about their talk. And blame himself. He would either follow in her footsteps or lose all the hope he had regained to be happy.

She couldn't do that to him. She could not let him live loving her when she had done such horrible things to him.

_YOU BITCH! YOU COWARD! Why don't you just end it now! Kill yourself!_

"I will Sakura…" Ino whispered to the angry night. She could almost see the devil in Sakura's clothing blink in confusion. "Suicide by Naruto."

The Sakura, born of vengeance and guilt laughed a little. Then a lot. And before Ino knew it, she was deaf to all else but the laughter of that demon. Born of blood and rain and fire.

**Xxxxx.xxxxx.xxxxX**

That Saturday Naruto looked outside. The week had been long. After their first night Ino had suddenly become distant. She told him she had important things to deal with concerning her parents. He didn't and wouldn't press her unless she decided to tell him.

But he was worried. It wasn't in his nature to do so, but could anyone blame him after what happened to Sakura? No they couldn't. It was why he was now looking outside, to get a little fresh air and clear his head.

The night was not cold, but not warm. Just in that perfect part of seventy-two or seventy-four degrees that made people happy. The moon was full, but ominous. He had come home to get some peace and quiet, but had been drawn out again to get some Ramen from Ichiraku.

He had left and gotten home in time for a message from someone. He had read it and saw they had to meet him. He sighed. He had gotten a few little love letters over the years. When he had been a boy he had just shrugged them off, or hidden them to read them and regret.

The one time he _did_ go he had been laughed at by the girls who had written it. The girl who had the idea and laughed the longest was now sitting in the chunin HQ trying to pretend she had enough skill to be a jounin, while Naruto, who she had repeatedly called idiot and failure, was her superior.

He smiled at the thought.

He sighed and thought about if it was some new cryptic thing from Moegi. The girl had been trying her best to beat him, much like he did to both Kakashi and Jiraya. He looked on her like a spirited kitten. So, since if it _was_ her, he would have to deal with her pouting and defiance if he missed it, he left.

Walking down the dark deserted streets of Konoha was calming to him for some reason. Yes, loneliness was a great pain. Yes, the darkness was a horrid thing to some people. But that didn't mean it affected Naruto anymore.

As he reached the street his little admirer had requested he looked at the directions and time.

_Uzumaki Naruto, It is deathly important that I speak with you. Please come to the corner of Goshu and Tensai. 1:00 a.m. I cannot express in mere words how much I need to speak to you._

After several minutes of waiting he tapped his foot. It was very boring waiting for someone he knew was only there to attack him, but eh. What else did he have to do when he couldn't sleep?

And suddenly, the boredom was swept away.

He heard someone land lightly in the street behind him. He turned. There was no one but the two of them. the only street light that still worked on Tensai was shining just in front of her, making it all the harder to distinguish her from the darkness.

She stood in the darkness.

An ANBU, with no painting on her mask, glaringly reflecting the light from the lamp.

_I would like another mask please; it unfortunately was fractured on a mission._

_Of course Yamanaka-san!_

Her clothing was far darker than normal. The deep navy blue was truly midnight black. It hugged her arms, body and legs shielding any of her flesh from view.

_I can do store orders here correct?_

_Oh yes! What are you looking for Yamanaka-san?_

_Something to cover me. I have a mission near the Hidden Grass soon._

_Ooh! The Hidden Grass? Well allow me to suggest a black color. The sun sets early when the sky is blocked by all those trees and things. Also, this special hood will cover your long hair in any style!_

And she held her sword in her hand, not on her back. Naruto saw there was something wrong with it. No…more like _smelled_ it. Something akin to rotten meat.

_She struck, quickly, efficiently. Her medical ninja skill telling her exactly the place to pierce her enemy's back and tear through their lung, and her heart. The blade snagged the bitch's rib and crashed off of it down ward. Ino stood toe-to-heel with her first kill as an ANBU._

Naruto looked at her deeply. Her blank, colorless mask stared back. "Uzumaki Naruto. Do you know who I am?" He shook his head. "Yes you do. You've sworn to kill me."

Naruto blinked. His brow furrowed. _What was this girl saying?_

"I am the one who killed your lover," Naruto's eyes widened. "I killed Haruno Sakura."

Naruto's face became emotionless. His mind shattered like a dropped picture frame. It was as if his entire world went blank. It _couldn't_ be. This woman was an ANBU! A _Konoha ANBU!_ If she had killed Sakura she would have been punished. Sakura was killed by…by…

"Enemy thieves…that…stole that old ass scroll…you…no ANBU…" his mind frazzled.

The equally impassive face looked at the ground for a moment before meeting his eye to again, "Yes. And no. If you don't believe me…_this_ will show you I speak the truth," she said as she raised her sword. Naruto took notice as she drew it. Naruto had never seen an all red sword before.

_The blade was most likely a short katana, definitely a poor man's assassin blade. The strike was from the top of her back, just to the left of her spine, and down through her lung before piercing her left ventricle and crashing through her ribcage._

He saw it suddenly. The blood that went from tip to hilt. The notch from where the sword hit the bone. He _knew_. He _knew_ she was telling the truth. He felt rage engulf him. His anger. His hatred. His sorrow.

All of it came to a head.

He would wonder softly, years later, how he could ever talk with the giant fangs his teeth had become. "Why…tell me that at least."

"Oh, I will…but not here. I have eluded my ANBU guards only temporarily. It has been hard making them think I was mentally competent. For some reason they don't think I can keep the secret of her death." She laughed. Naruto had heard her 

laugh before, that in and of itself was frightening. "Well, considering I'm about to tell you everything. So come with me Uzumaki Naruto, if you wish to know why your beloved's blood decorates my sword."

"Somewhere? With _you_?" snarled the enraged ninja. Naruto was amazed he even had the willpower to say that.

"Yes. You can lead me anywhere. Because, ultimately, you will kill me. I have come to you because I wish to die." Naruto froze as her words washed over him. He looked at the woman and smelled neither fear nor lies on her. It sent a chill down Naruto's spine.

"Fine…" Naruto said.

He left toward the run down area of Konoha. The ANBU followed him. She was silent.

The two landed on a roof. Naruto motioned for Ino to follow him down the stairs to a building. Ino looked and saw what had to be a decaying corpse in the corner of the stairs.

She shuddered as Naruto stopped at the top floor and went to a door. The walls and the lintels and posts had been scratched at, marked up, and what appeared to be burned as well. She saw words like 'demon,' 'hell spawn,' 'fuck off,' and the ever popular, 'die!'

"Welcome to my home," smirking, they said. His voice was different. It sounded like a strange mix of an older or darker man's and Naruto's own. "This is the place where evil goes to clear its mind. The Fox's Den…in other words." As he spoke the other man faded from his voice and the slight humor in Naruto's face passed.

He looked at her, a solemn testament to anger, and hatred, and calmness. "Tell me…tell me why she's dead."

Yamanaka Ino, ANBU, private, sat on the floor, her back to a wall, her knees drawn up and told him everything. She left out names and places, but she did tell what happened.

The radio, the infiltration, the storm, the following ninja, the stones, the misconception, the fire, the death.

The pain, the return, the tears, the cover up, the revelation, the explanation, the funeral.

The darkness, the loss of time, the loss of sleep, the pain, the guilt, the loneliness, the decision.

All in all it took three hours to tell him everything.

As time passed he bristled. He clenched his fists. As nails became claws he punctured his palms. He gritted his teeth together so hard he began to bleed at the gums. His eyes turned red and suddenly his cheeks were marked deeply by the gashes on his face.

He hated it. He believed her.

Would Tsunade, if pushed by the elders or for fear of the village, plan something like this to protect people from war?

_Yes_.

Would she allow even the accidental murderer of her apprentice, in the name of peace and goodwill for the village, to live?

_Yes._

Would she refuse to tell him?

_Yes._

Because he held within him the demon fox?

_Yes._

Was she scared of what would happen if he found out and went berserk?

_Yes._

Through his contemplation he saw the ANBU slowly remove her armor and lay down her sword. "The time has come. My life has reached its end. Kill me Uzumaki Naruto."

He stepped up to her. He knew what she wanted. For some reason he knew that she knew about his sword. He drew the dosu. He charged it with his chakra. The ultimate battle strength of ninja flared into the blade. She bent her head down. He swirled the sword in his hand and pointed the blade so a quick straight thrust would split her spinal chord at the base of her skull.

He let it drop. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the blade sink into the floor. When she looked up he swung his body down and grabbed her throat. The movement was so fluid and swift she didn't even realize what happened until he had thrust her into the wall.

"YOU WANT TO DIE?!" Naruto screamed. She wanted to scream herself. "Well you _will_ die. Be assured of that. After all the shit this village has put me through…and _you_…" he squeezed her neck to the point she had to take deeper breaths. Her lungs flared with pain. "I held her in my arms. She _bled to death through her chest_. She died slowly, painfully. And so _will you!_"

He threw her across the room where she skidded to a halt at a rusted spring bed. It was so old her mere touch made it crumble. The rotten metal dust that covered her was kept from her lungs solely because of her mask. Naruto appeared over her. He lifted one leg up and slammed his foot down hard on her chest.

She coughed.

She forced the reaction to struggle away as his hands wrapped around her neck again. He squeezed.

The pain in her lungs became greater. It felt like a fire had started just behind her breasts and was flaring in her entire chest cavity. She writhed under him. Gasping, grunting.

She could only think of how disgusting her death would be. When she finally died her body would release anything left in her bladder and colon. She would probably vomit too. The force lessened. Her eyes were out of focus, but she still saw the calm, almost serene look on his face. Her mind fogged over in relief.

Yes Naruto would be in pain afterward, but his promise to Sakura's grace would be fulfilled.

"You stabbed her in the back. But at least you had the decency to turn her body over and look into her eyes. I'll give you the same courtesy."

Those words made her mind clear. She realized why the power on her neck was weak. He had let go with on of his hands. The hand that would _take her mask off!_ If he knew who it was too soon he would stop! He wouldn't kill her!

"No! Kill me first! Kill me first!" she tried to say, but all that came out was spittle and gurgling noises.

"Sorry," Naruto mocked, "I can't hear you."

His free hand clutched her mask. He squeezed it just enough to release the small vacuum it made to stay on her face. Her hands clutched at it. They were too weak from a lack of oxygen, but enough to cause him some trouble.

"You're fighting me now?" he asked, there was some actual humor in his voice. "Even if I wasn't killing you as slowly as I can, you couldn't ever stop me."

He laughed as he yanked the mask back.

That moment in Uzumaki Naruto's life froze. Every bead of sweat from the warm summer night stopped on his skin. Every drop of blood in his veins halted. Everything he knew was still as dead ice.

"No…"

His hand released her and he stood up. He was over her. He blinked.

"No…it…you…?"

Ino rolled onto her side and held her throat. He coughed blood and spit onto the floor. She groaned as she fell back against the wall, crawling from underneath him. He watched her with his eyes, his body so still it looked as if he wasn't breathing.

"Ino…you killed Sakura?" he asked. The words he spoke came so softly Ino at first believed he had merely let out a sigh of air. She looked up at him. Her fear for and of him exceeded all other things. The room had been so dark when they entered. But she saw his eyes. His body wreathed in a spectral void of lack of light.

His eyes were brighter than the sun.

"…Yes…I…I killed her Naruto."


	7. The Deliberation

A/N: Sorry for the wait. This I believe, is as good a way to come back as any. Let it be known none of the recent shinanigans in the comics have made me stop loving this series. Sorry again for the wait, enjoy the new chapter and all the lovely ironies.

MountainWind Blowing away

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 7**

_Time stops._

Jiraya had told him that, long ago.

_Time stops Naruto. You'll experience it once or twice before you _really_ understand what is happening. In battle, in life, in love._

He was always adding sappy stuff like that to the end of things. Naruto knew that it happened, but at the time he merely said Jiraya was being stupid and time didn't stop which caused an argument and the eventual flight of Naruto over the canopy of their training field.

But it did stop. The first time was when he was told about Kyuubi. Then after that was when Gaara described his life.

Next when he faced Pein. The piercings, the multiple versions, the _eyes_.

And when he found Sakura's body.

But this was different. This…it _had_ to be different.

_It isn't_. Something whispered in his head. A cool soft voice, with a hint of disgust. And amusement. _It's the same. You know it._

"…Yes…I…I killed her Naruto."

Time stops.

* * *

Rain pelted his body. He ignored it. What was rain to the Sage of Mount Myoboku?

Naruto felt a rush of adrenaline as he crushed another Mud clone with his bare hands. Several copies of his targets had been sent against him along with a variety of traps. But they were so rudimentary he nearly laughed out loud.

"COME ON GUYS! Give me a real challenge!"

The scent of blood hit his nose. A sudden lightning strike made the ninja direct his attention to the area Sakura had taken.

"Naruto," her voice came over the radio. "I'm fighting one now. I'm close to her. I don't know what village they're from but-"

"I'm on my wa Sakura-chan! Get into a nice hiding spot and I'll find you."

He heard Sakura laugh softly, "That nose of yours could find me anywhere huh Naru-" She made an organic coughing sound.

"Sakura? Sakura answer me! SAKURA!" his voice was drowned out by another blast of thunder.

Naruto stood still for a single span of three seconds before falling to all fours. His nose found the slightest trace of his Sakura-chan and told him the _exact_ direction. More blood scent filled his nose as he ran.

Naruto drew on as much of his power as he could, pushing himself to the extent of his control. His toes and fingers grew tiny claws he used to grab hold of the slick wet branches. When he missed his mark his head would shoot out and his fangs would do the work.

Naruto did not fathom enemies behind or flanking him. His senses were so fully attuned to Sakura's scent and chakra presence he did not care about anything else. Every fiber of his being was devoted to finding the woman he loved. The one who had cried when he told her about the Kyuubi. The one who had tried to help him even after all of the troubles and hard emotions between them.

Naruto screamed her name over and over as he saw a flare of light. He skidded to a halt on a high branch and swung down to the muddy ground. Fire raged just outside his line of sight. Driven by his desire to protect, yet also perfectly trained he stalked forward cautiously before he noticed the two forms in the clearing. One was running away, the other was laying face up in the grass.

"SAKURA!" he ran to her and fell to his knees. Eyes that had seen war and death were unprepared for the pale face of her. The wet mud stained hair and face bloody chest and _the hole_. "Sakura," he whimpered, unable to even properly speak her name.

Lips, losing their color faster than the rain fell, moved and a scant few breaths came from her. "Naruto," she whispered. His acute hearing picked up on it. He leaned over her and let his ear hover directly above her mouth. "I want you to promise me something."

He took a deep breath and calmed his nerves. "Whatever you want Sakura."

"Naruto…promise me…"

As she spoke it he did not fully understand but he swore on everything he was he would do as she asked. Scooping her up gently Naruto gathered not only the power of the natural world to his body, but also the rage and hatred in his spirit which egged on his prisoner.

With so many forces inside him fighting for control it was Naruto's single minded devotion to her that allowed him to will his body forward. Speeding faster than even the most well trained of ANBU Uzumaki Naruto raced home.

Little did he know he not only passed his lover's murderer, but also cleared the way for them to return home safely.

* * *

Somewhere in the back of Naruto's head he heard laughter. Not the jeering snickers from the villagers when he was young, or the odd grunting laugh of his prisoner, but the light, life-filled laughter Sakura had. He stood looking at Ino. He wasn't really breathing. His heart wasn't really pumping blood.

He was just…_there_.

While he was still and almost statuesque, Ino was coughing and sputtering. She held her throat and supported herself with one arm while trying to decide if crawling or running away would be the better choice.

The oppressive aura coming from Naruto made either one seem both impossible and idiotic.

Then, just as her survival instincts reached their limit on keeping still Naruto exploded. He screamed a curse so intense and brutal it seemed to be from another time on another world. Whirling and sputtering like an animal he spun and crashed his fists against the stone and mortar of the building's walls. One punch was so hard and powerful it blasted out a hole four times the width of Naruto's arm.

The next moment he was at the far wall his fists slamming into it as if it was a training dummy. His teeth were clenched so hard blood began to lap from under his lips. He reared back one arm slashed the now dented wall leaving four large thick marks in the mortar. His nails had ripped back revealing the skin underneath.

After several minutes of rage Naruto calmed down. His arm was broken, but Ino hear the distinct cracking and creaking of bones resetting on their own. Unnaturally fast.

An orange aura swelled from his center and engulfed his body, "Son of a bitch. Just shut up will ya?" he hissed blood flying from his lips.

Ino, not understanding what was going on uttered, "But I didn't say anything."

Naruto's back was to her at an angle that allowed one of his cerulean eyes to be seen. The pupil shrank to the size of a pinprick before zipping to her. "I wasn't talking to _you_," he snarled. He moved his entire body to face her and straightened. "Ino. I don't really know what I'm going to do in the next few seconds. All I do know is that I won't kill you. _Yet._"

She started and stood. "YOU HAVE TO!" her scream echoed around the room. "After all of this! After living in this hell for a year you MUST kill me! Naruto are you a man or-"

"_Shut up!_" the bellow cracked the paint on the walls. "Get away from me. I mean it."

Ino, her body moving just as commanded while her brain tried to assert her _need_ to die, did as she was bade. She rose slowly; Naruto didn't press the point as the bruise he had left on her neck was all too visible. What made him so very angry was not that he had hurt Ino; it was that he hadn't hurt her _enough_.

She turned and headed for the door, making sure to control her breathing to lessen the pain on her throat. One last look at the Jinchuuriki told her it was a futile attempt to say anything more. Yamanaka Ino closed the door behind her gently.

Silence.

Not even the rats in the wall moved, afraid Naruto was the fire that would scuttle the building their ship.

"Shut _up!"_

**.xxxxX**

Ino found herself simultaneously ecstatic and mortified. Naruto knew. He knew! He knew!

…

Oh Kami-sama…

Naruto _knew_.

**.xxxxX**

The next few days were quiet within Konoha. It was peculiar. Normally the western training grounds would be a froth of entertainment and action if Naruto was in the village. His sparring partners were a bit confused when they didn't see the dedicated blonde stretching with four or five of his clones before he began his normal exercises.

While this little bit of intrigue made some take notice they chocked it up to the fact it was close to his dead lover's birthday in a few days.

However, it was not his living nor his dead lover that drew Uzumaki Naruto from his normal habits.

Naruto sat in the deepest part of the dark forests that surrounded his home. He was breathing deeply. His mind was calm and collected, far from the tumult of murderous rage that had gripped him _that night_.

His teeth still hurt. Even though his now flat human teeth had healed completely after only a few minutes they still hurt.

He chocked it up to the confusion he was feeling.

How. How could this happen? What made such a delicate and sensitive operation seem like a good idea? In his head he replayed every single instant of the days and nights leading to Sakura's death. As he did one thing always seemed to stand out. It…just seemed _off_ to the Jinchuuriki.

It was only after going over the events nearly four thousand times in repeatable succession did he understand.

After not moving for three days Uzumaki Naruto stood and looked toward his home village. A place he now hated and loved more than anything on earth.

**.xxxxX**

The streets of Konoha were rarely so dark. It was due to the near constant overcast that had brought with it frequent rains. Odd, since such storms normally passed by Konoha after only a few hours, but the current storm has lasted for five days. It hung over the village like the shadow of death.

Even as the sun reached its apex in the sky only a few spots in the village were afforded their normal lighting. One of them, not surprisingly, was the Hokage Tower. Tsunade was at work, signing form after form after form after form in a never ending deluge of paper and ink.

The pen she was using snapped in half. Her brow furrowed as ink spilled onto the piece of paper and her in blotter underneath. As she reached to call Shizune for a towel and another copy of the form she was working on her intercom blurted to life.

"_Tsunade-sama, Naruto-kun is here to see you._"

_Naruto has made an appointment? The boy must be sick._ "Send him in Shizune and get me some towels."

"_Yes ma'am._"

The doors opened and the two younger ninja entered. Shizune helped her mistress clean the mess while Naruto calmly sat in one of the several chairs Tsunade had in her office. When the women had finished and Shizune had left them alone, Tsunade addressed her very calm, which perturbed her a little, brother figure.

"Hey ba-chan."

_Okay maybe he's fine._ "Hello Naruto what can I do for you?"

"Just wanted to see if there were any real big missions on the board. I'm getting a bit bored and need to let loose."

Tsunade smiled, "Any 'big missions' I have are more about assassination and stealth than pure destruction Naruto. I hate to say it but you're more of a siege engine than a dagger."

Naruto made his normal 'thinking' face, as if to show he was contemplating the meaning of her analogy. "Yeah. You're right there Ba-chan!" he rubbed the back of his head and laughed. "But speaking of daggers and assassination and stuff why didn't you tell me Ino-chan killed Sakura?"

"Well that's because it was-" Tsunade had been laughing and re-filling out the form she had ruined. Her breath came in short bursts and sweat formed at her temples. As he eyes rose to regard Naruto she noticed he was looking at her with a very calm and dangerous look on his face.

Time stops.

"What did you say Naruto?" Tsunade asked.

"I'm sorry," he replied calmly, "I didn't mean to mumble. I asked, 'Why did you not tell me that Yamanaka Ino killed Haruno Sakura?'"

"How did you find out about that?" Tsunade whispered, her hands shaking minutely.

"That is not an answer."

"Naruto…I…It was not supposed to happen!"

The younger blonde's blue eyes bore into her. She felt stripped of everything from her authority to her clothes to her youthful appearance. She was old and weak and tired woman before a young and dangerous man.

"Really? Tell me than Tsunade, before you answer my original question, how was it 'supposed'," he emphasized that word, "to happen?"

The Sannin gathered her thoughts and took a deep steadying breath. "The Sage of Six Paths committed nothing to paper in regards to his skills or techniques. Except for one scroll. This scroll was imbued not only with a portion of his power but also an obscene amount of shinobi knowledge. With it even a genin could invade and destroy half of a ninja village. The keepers of the scroll were always allies of ours, until the current keeper tried to sell it to us and the Mist.

"In response to this we planned to steal the scroll and kill him, planting information that any that looked close enough would see the Mist came to collect on the deal and betrayed him instead. The night of his deal, he hired us to protect it from a supposed Bandit group in the area. We sent you and Sakura because there would be no reason to have Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura protect the thing and then have it stolen."

"We were the ANBU Team's alibi," Naruto supposed. Tsunade nodded the affirmative.

"But a member of your team saw them as they were moving to assassinate the keeper. You and Sakura went after them realizing they had gotten the scroll. And the events of Sakura's death played out."

Naruto was silent for several moments. "Why was this not a joint venture?"

"And have the chance that fool would realize you knew someone was coming on the same night he had arranged to sell the thing? No. Too big of a risk. Larger deniability to the rest of the Ninja world."

Naruto made a snorting noise. Soon his shoulders were shaking and after a few moments he was laughing. He held his face and sides as furious bouts of laughter assaulted him.

"Deniability. Right. That's rich. Best thing I've heard all week!"

Then in a flurry of movement that Tsunade could barely follow he was up, over her desk and had grabbed her by the throat. He slammed her against the large windows of her office. Tsunade coughed loudly as the wind was knocked out of her. She gazed backward with a look of equal parts anger and fear. No one would be able to see anything Naruto did due to the special genjutsu built into the glass and very stone of the building. Anyone looking in would see an empty room.

"N-Naruto please let me-"

"SHUT UP!" he roared. "She's dead Tsunade. Do you know what about that makes me so angry?"

Tsunade's eyes flashed from the left to the right as she tried to answer. He squeezed her throat and made her focus on him.

"It isn't she died in a way that seems _too_ perfect for your little plan," Tsunade shook her head as best she could to dissuade him from continuing the line of thought. "It isn't that you forced Ino to keep it a secret to avoid the egg on your face and this little 'war' you're worried about. No. What really PISSES ME OFF about her death is that you, _Tsu-na-de-sa-MA,_ didn't trust me with the knowledge of what really happened." His face contorted as if he was experiencing great pain. "_Shut up!_" he snarled to seemingly no one. His eyes, now a violent indigo turned to her, "I thought after I saved this fucking village from being completely wiped from history I would be allowed to feel things for what they were, be treated like a real member of the community, and even be told what was really going on. Not be handled with kid gloves like some kind of living BOMB!

"I am _not_ your little brother, your lover, or your son Tsunade." He leaned in pulling her close to him so his lips were next to her ear. His free hand played with the tie to her sash and pulled it off, letting her already loose shirt to fall open more. Nothing more of her save her bare belly was exposed but it did even less of her massive breasts to be desired. "No matter how much you'd want me to be."

"Naruto," she whispered, fear and despair evident in her voice, "What happened to y-?"

He leaned back and looked into her eyes. Tsunade saw the deep cunning Naruto normally hid. It had flashed at her sometimes, especially around April Fools or whenever he was in a particularly feisty mood. But this was what he _really_ hid from most of the village. Even her.

That dark deceptive empathy and intelligence he had been born with. The parts of Naruto that looked on the world as a hateful place.

A place he now associated with Tsunade.

"Nothing Tsunade," he said dropping her. "Nothing happened. I just realized a few things about this place I had tried to look away from like a little kid. But now my eyes are open and focused."

Tsunade hurriedly grabbed the sides of her shirt and pulled them close, suddenly shy. Naruto was looking straight ahead the entire time. After a few tenuous seconds in which Tsunade was slowly thinking of her final words he turned from her.

She gaped up at his retreating back. "Is that all?" she called.

He opened the door and stopped. Tsunade stood and he looked out of the corner of his eye to regard her. He blinked once before turning from her fully, "I'm a bit disappointed really Tsunade. I expected more from you."

Rage engulfed the older woman, "Like what? What do you expect when I run a village full of killers?! We're on the edge of a knife here Naruto! Pein did as much to cripple this village as you did to save it! No matter how much you think you did there is still more that's ruined! And even if we were still as powerful as we were she was going to die someday Naruto! What does it matter if it was at a friend's blade of an enemy's?!"

Her anger clouded her words. "And what does it matter if anyone, her parents, her friends or her lovers?! If any of them knows the truth? If they don't they aren't shinobi. Look underneath the underneath remember?! What does it matter now she's been dead a year? We only remember the shinobi who earned a nickname. Everyone else is the same as a thrown kunai or shuriken. Cheap, flimsy, and easily _replaced_." She put emphasis on that last part.

The young man's eyes slowly returned to a blue color, before he shook his head, as if he was talking to a petulant child. "You're right. What does it matter?"

Tsunade grew chillingly calm as he moved to leave. Before the door closed Tsunade yelled "You're the only one who still cares about that night Naruto! So don't forget that promise of yours."

"I never do."

With the gentle sound of the lock sliding back into place Tsunade felt Naruto leave. Her entire body shook violently and she collapsed against her chair. Deep purple bruises formed on her neck and a tiny pinprick from a kunai was visible just under her naval.

Despite her rough treatment. Despite her ragged demeanor after his assault. And despite her rage at being helpless before a child, Tsunade of the Sannin only felt hatred for one person and only one.

Her face, beautiful to all but a scant few, was so contorted by her anger it appeared to be that of some sort of demon instead of a woman.

_Yamanaka Ino._ She hissed inside her mind. _I know it was you that told him!_

* * *

The weather has caused Konoha's mild humidity to sky rocket. Ino stood looking out her balcony's twin window doors with a line of visible sweat on her face and arms. Not even the cool breeze of the night air could relieve her torment.

Of course if she was sweating because of the heat it would be one thing.

"Where is he?" she asked for the fifth time that hour.

In truth she had said it so many times in the last five days it almost became her mantra. Even on her last mission, a quick delivery to the border patrols of the country had seemed a good opportunity to attack. Naruto could have easily killed her during the late night run.

But he hadn't.

Nor had he killed her when she started bathing during the hours when there were only two or three at the public baths. Nor when she started doing her shopping at the late night store down the street.

Not even when she sat naked on her balcony in the middle of the night!

WHAT KIND OF ASSASSIN IS HE?!

_I won't kill you. _Yet.

Yet. _Fuck _that word. Yet.

"Yet," she scoffed. She tapped one finger against the inside of her crossed arms and turned away from the window in a huff. With a disgusted flourish she ripped off the tank top she had been wearing and the panties she also wore. Both were soaked through with sweat. Enveloped in a sleeve of the greasy stuff Ino skulked to her shower and let the hot spray cloud her vision and the glass in her bathroom and bed room before stepping out.

Not bothering to dry herself she crawled to her bed and slid under the top layer of thin cotton sheets, kicking the rest off.

"Yet. _Feh_."

**.xxxxX**

Darkness is an odd concept, Naruto realized as he stood on the balcony. The 'Dark' is usually a scary place. Mostly because of the unknown or the true meaning of fear. Naruto had been told by Jiraya that all fear comes from the fear of dying and that spans from the fear of the unknown of what happens after death.

So to be scared of the dark is to be scared of death is to be scared of the unknown.

Made perfect sense to the Sannin, but Naruto never really got it. He was more afraid of losing people.

And look at him now.

His best friend lost to the sands of time, dead or fighting some battle against an enemy he never really had.

His lover dead.

His mentors dead or dying.

His bachan was probably deciding to accuse him of rape or gloss over it for sake of embarrassment.

His newest lover was expecting him to kill her.

The boogeyman. The wolf man. Vampires. Monsters.

No. Those weren't the things in the dark that scared Naruto. He had faced men and women who were worse than monsters and beaten them, usually in their own dark holes.

What scared Naruto about the dark, was when there was nothing _but_ dark. When he was all alone.

Well, not completely.

**.xxxxX**

Ino realized she was being assaulted when she felt her bed was four inches lower than normal. As an ANBU Ino had subconsciously memorized everything about her home from the time it took for the lights to go on in a particular room to the n umber of cookies in her secret stash behind her headache medicine.

Normally, under her own weight, the bed was fifteen inches from the floor. This caused Ino's fingertips to touch the tips of her carpet, barely. Not her knuckles and the back of her hand were almost fully on the ground.

Second was the air around her was thicker. Someone had recently bathed to hide their scent but had not dried themselves completely so the water was evaporating to the extent it increased the already humid room.

Her balcony doors rushed open from a burst of wind and rain droplets fell against her face and legs but not her body, she heard them fall, but did not feel them.

"Open your eyes already," the voice of her assailant ordered.

She did as she was commanded and rolled so she was on her back. She was not surprised by the sword tip dangling just over her throat, or the sleek and nearly skin tight stealth clothing he was wearing. What surprised Ino was he had given her this last form of conciliation.

To allow your target to see you was one of the biggest flaws of being an assassin, as she had been taught. It was brought on either by arrogance, pride, or a general lack of control.

Useless things for a ninja to experience.

"Hello Naruto."

"Hello Ino."

Silence.

"Why am I still alive?"

He did not answer.

"Do you want to have sex first?" she asked, in a bored tone.

"What?"

"I doubt I'd be a good lay under the circumstances but I could try."

"What is wrong with you?"

"Lack of sleep, proper food, and the general air of mild insanity," she responded with a hint of the fiery blonde they both remembered. Before…

Her eyes turned to her left, the arm that had been on the bed. Naruto noticed a sword. For some reason he had missed it when he snuck in.

"It's covered in her blood. I killed her with it."

"Why keep it?"

"I don't know. Every time I try to get rid of it…I just can't."

He notices the slight waver growing in her voice.

"Was it a trick?" Naruto asks, his eyes boring into hers.

She looks away, "Was what a trick?"

His free hand strikes her, knocking her face back to meet his. "The sex. The love. The emotions. Was some trick to goad me into sparing you?"

Ino smiled. Her face lit up in a way Naruto had not seen in weeks. "Spare me? SPARE ME!" she laughed. Arching her back and grabbing her forehead Yamanaka Ino laughed madly, hysterically.

It unnerved Naruto greatly.

"Oh God…spare me," she laughed and settled back. Sliding from under Naruto she pushed herself up on her elbows. Naruto didn't even blink as he kept his blade in line for a quick jab into her neck. "No. I wanted to be yours. For you to be mine. I knew it was stupid. But I wanted it, almost as I want you to kill me."

Blue eyes turn red for a second and narrow.

"I killed my best friend. Your true love and the one person who knew your greatest pain. I cannot even kill myself because I'm so weak and pathetic. So Uzumaki Naruto. Will you kill the horrid bitch that took your Sakura-chan from you?"

At hearing her name Naruto roared. He whirled, grabbing Ino by the neck and swinging her around so the two of them landed on the floor. Ino's impassive face did not change through the small flight even as Naruto forced his Dosu into the carpet next to her head and began to strangle her.

As the breath slowly left her body Ino began to cry.

The bite of his nails.

The pulse of his muscles.

The heat from his body on hers.

The sound of a heartbeat loud in their ears.

It all just felt right.

Until a single drop of water fell on her chest. Ino blinked and realized she was laying naked face up on her floor, and Naruto was not killing her. She sat up and looked around wildly before she saw him on his hands and knees slamming his fists into the floor.

"What are you doing?! Second thoughts now! KILL ME DAMN YOU!" she hollered to the point she hurt her throat.

She heard his simpering and one distinct word rang true in the made young woman's head. "My…p-promise."

"Yes!" she croaked. "Your promise of revenge! On her grave Naruto! To me to have vengeance for both! I NEED to die! I have to atone for her-"

"Not that promise," he wheezed. "The one she made me make as she died!" he screamed.

"What?"

He turned and looked at her, tears running from his eyes as mucus ran from his nose. "Sakura made me promise to protect you, to take care of you. So tell me Ino. Which promise do I break? I one I made to her as she died. Or the one I made to her grave?"

* * *

A/N: Hoh boy. After a year I come back with another ciff hanger! But don't worry everything will end happily ever after...well then maybe you should worry. I'll not reveal what happens here or anywhere else before the time is due. Also the next few days will see other stories update, one of which is my most popular I believe.

Thanks for reading.


	8. The Verdict

A/N: Howdy. After a long series of writers block and some bull crap shinnagins on the part of Kishimoto-san I'm back. I do believe that Viz media is milking Naruto for all the series is worth but that isn't nessecarily a bad thing. Enoy this chapter, It's slightly shorter so I can make yet another horrible cliff hanger.

* * *

Chapter 8

Ino blinked.

A year.

A year of her life had been devoted to these past few moments. Revenge. On herself. For her murdered friend. And now she was not going to get that vengeance because the one she had murdered requested her executioner become her protector.

Ino vaguely considered joining a theatre group; no other drama could top what had just transpired.

A sniffle from Naruto brought her out of her reverie. "You're serious?"

"What?" he asked.

"After all this? After that big show at the deserted building? NOW! NOW YOU TELL ME ABOUT IT?!" she screamed. Leaping at him she rammed him into the wall and grabbed Naruto's stealth suit, or at least tried to. The material was so tight her fingers continued to slip across without getting any hold. "DAMN YOU UZUMAKI!" she hissed, her voice full of venom. "You stupid shit! A year! An entire YEAR! I've been waiting for this! Waiting for someone!" she jabbed her finger into his chest, "with a SPINE to punish me for what I've done!" The anger and fury slowly ebbed as she started to beat his chest with her clenched fists. "And you just FAIL ME!" she cried, her own tears pouring down her cheeks.

No longer able to support herself Ino tumbled to her knees. Naruto merely watched her, his own face an odd mix of fear and mild revulsion. She was right. Even though it was born of whatever pain she alone held as Sakura's killer, she was right. Naruto had planned to avenge his love for all this time, and Ino had been awaiting that vengeance.

"But I promised," he sighed, barely a whisper.

Ino grabbed at her own hair and pulled. _Naruto always keeps his promises_ the specter of her victim spoke into her mind. _Always._

"Get out," Ino whimpered.

"Ino," he stammered. "I-I-"

"I said," she rose, her eyes a dark and cold blue, "GET OUT!" she grabbed his sides and forced him to her balcony as rain and buffeted his back. "YOU ARE WORTHLESS TO ME!" she roared. "What good is your rage? Your power if it leaves such a disgusting thing as me alive?! What good is the love you had for Sakura if it is defeated by some words uttered to a beaten corpse?!" she hissed.

Naruto, who had been flabbergasted at Ino's display of emotion, narrowed his eyes at her. He stood against the rough shoving she continued to throw in his direction and grabbed her wrists. His grip, a powerful vice, held her fast.

"I'm worthless? Worthless to YOU!" he bellowed. The laugh he gave reminded Ino too much of a certain immortal masochist who had killed her mentor. "I'm worthless to the admittedly worthless that's rich! Sounds like one of Ero-Sannin's poems!"

He turned her own strength against her and forced her into the wall, this time beside the balcony doors so they were just outside the boundaries of the moonlight shining inward.

"What do you even have to live for?" he asked, startling her out of her fuming. "What made you stop the first time you thought about seppuku?" She turned away from him, her face scrunching. After a few moments of silence, "ANSWER ME!"

She snapped to glare at him, "YOU! IT WAS ALWAYS YOU NARUTO!"

He kissed her. Releasing her hands he grabbed her face and held her fast to keep her from breaking it. She tried, desperately, to rip her lips from his, but he was still too strong. Slowly, slowly, as if he was somehow devouring or draining her anger, she gave in, too tired to fight anymore.

Because that was why she had relented in the end, wasn't it?

Because she was tired?

Tired of lying?

Tired of being alone?

**.xxxxX**

She awoke the next morning to find herself alone in her bed. Still naked.

The events of the night would have been a dream to her if she did not catch a pair of panties with a distinct sandal imprint on them.

"Shit," Ino grunted. "Just my luck I get laid on the night I'm supposed to die."

**.xxxxX**

Dealing with children is an act that takes more than any single person believes they have. Patience, confidence, and above all, the rational mind to listen to what the child needs and wants.

As a young girl Tsunade had been told she could do anything she wanted.

When Nawaki died she thought that was a lie. When Dan died, she _knew_ it was a lie. She wanted to save them, to be with them forever. To bear Dan's children and raise a strong and happy family that would live in the peaceful Konoha Sarutobi and Jiraya were always writing poems about.

So why couldn't the greatest medical mind of her generation heal two simple wounds?

For how long did she mope about Dan's death? How many men found themselves sprawled on the street outside a bar after hitting on her? How many nights alone did Tsunade sate her own lust while pretending her hands were his? How long did she wait?

Her cynicism when she met Naruto and Jiraya was founded on these many questions. But it was while watching the young boy force himself beyond the limits she herself had placed on him that she understood the phrase her grandfather and Great uncle always told her.

_You can do anything you want to do Tsunade._

But not everything you _need_ to do. She needed to protect her country and home. She needed Dan to be her husband. She needed Jiraya to always be there to support her. She needed to be able to save more than a handful of people at a time.

It took more than twenty-five years as a wandering vagrant for Tsunade to realize she could never save her entire village by herself, or even with an entire army. She could save a few.

Only a few, under her own power.

So when a certain daimyo needed funds to rebuild the struggling economy of his province and found his grandfather's most secret treasure trove and decided to sell a certain scroll Tsunade realized certain measures had to be taken to save her village from certain doom in a war with the Mist.

Someone had to die.

**.xxxxX**

Shizune peered into her master's office. The room was almost pitch black save for a small light on her desk. The only way Shizune knew Tsunade was wake was due to the subtle movements of her hands as she wrote on a scroll.

"You called Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked quietly.

"Yes," the Sannin's reply was curt and short. She held up a second and third scroll. "Deliver the red one to Nyosai immediately. And the blue one to the address on it, mail is fine. No rush," Tsunade ordered.

Doing as she was told Shizune bowed and left. She sighed openly after she closed the door and headed down the hallway to the small mail port in the building. The late hour in which she was doing this made it unlikely the scroll would reach its destination before the day after tomorrow, but she understood that if it was urgent Tsunade would have her deliver it herself.

She dropped the scroll and closed the port before turning to head to Nyosai's apartment, a place she had been made to go more times than she cared to admit after the incident last year. A single tear welled in Shizune's eyes as she remembered the face of Sakura.

"So sad," she mused as she left the building.

After several minutes a small plume of smoke erupted from the mail port as the scroll duplicated itself with a second address.

**.xxxxX**

"To me personally?" Nyosai asked as he flipped the wrapped piece of wood up and down in his hand.

Shizune nodded.

"What's the old girl got planned eh? Wants me to hijack a wagon of orphaned pretty boys dressed like Orochimaru?" he asked with a smirk.

"Don't be crude. Tsunade-sama has been under a lot of stress lately since the Mist have become more aggressive toward Hidden Stone. They have to move through us or Suna to get to them you know."

"The only pressure that old bink is under is caused by two nine volt batteries! Four if she's aging down there too," Nyosai grunted causing Shizune to flush terribly. "When was the last time she got any?" he asked, honestly curious. One of Nyosai's fundamental beliefs in maintaining sanity in a ninja village revolved around crazy ninja sex.

Jiraya was Nyosai's personal hero.

"How would I know?!" Shizune fumed. Nyosai rolled his eyes in reply; it was well known Tsunade didn't get sick unless it was on the schedule Shizune made for her. "Well," the flush returned three fold. "She had a meeting with Naruto-kun yesterday and when he left she had bruises on her neck and her clothes were ruffled."

Nyosai narrowed his eyes. "Bruises? Wow didn't think Tsunade was into that."

"Into what?"

"Autoerotic asphyxiation. Strangling herself to get off."

"Oh you pig," she hissed before finally leaving him.

"SAYS THE WOMAN WHO SLEEPS WITH 'LITTLE RAITO-KUN UNDER HER PILLOW!" he called after her causing the younger woman to roar in anger and throw a trashcan at him. Nyosai dodged it and deflected the blow before it dented his doorframe. _Alright,_ he mused mentally, _I'll cut her some slack for a few days._

Entering his apartment he sat on the small loveseat he used as a couch and unrolled the scroll. It had a detailed list of complicated instructions he had to fulfill in the next three days.

Outside the village.

Outside the _country_.

For three days.

He closed his eyes and thought back nearly an entire year.

_This mission will not end after you return from the Tower._ _Remember, you must act as if the death was not planned. The entire responsibility will be put on the other team. Just make sure you get them in and out safely. The scroll is their business, the tower is yours._

Nyosai grunted as he recalled his debriefing on what would be the most spectacular fuck up in his carrier.

He drew a cigarette from a pack on his coffee table and lit it with a match. Shaking it out he took a deep drag. "Fucked up. Supposed to attack and mortally wound the genin daughter of a traitor. End up having a rookie kill her best friend and the second best medical ninja to come out of the village."

Nyosai grunted.

"Why do I feel like an extra on 'Days of our Ninja Lives?'" he asked the ash in his ashtray.

**.xxxxX**

"A mission alone?" Ino asked. Normally she would have been angrily staring into space after her last confrontation with Naruto but Nyosai's admission was a bit startling. "That's not normal."

"Neither is your bust size but moving on," Nyosai grunted, "Yes. I'll be gone for the next three days. Four or five depending on travel conditions. So if you'll be doing normal patrols refer to the schedule on the main board in your locker rooms. Alright move out!" he called clapping his hands in a dismissive manner.

After Hasuki and Yosumai had left he motioned for Ino to stay. "How you holding up Yamanaka?"

"Why do you ask sir?" she wondered in a catty voice. Names were usually taboo even within the ANBU headquarters. It didn't help that Ino was still pissed.

"No real reason. Just wanted to make sure your mind was still sharp. You are a Yamanaka after all. Watch yourself, you are a ninja," he said before walking past her. He patted her shoulder, an oddly informal gesture for her commander, and left.

Ino quirked an eyebrow and watched his receding back before sighing. _Why are the only men I understand either my father, lazy, or fat?_

**.xxxxX**

Patrols suck.

Yamanaka Ino came to that realization after only two days of them. As a ninja she had once been taught way to stay in the same place for over three days, moving inch by inch over a stretch of time she could only describe as 'ungodly.' The number of ways to all but stop her basic bodily functions that filled her skull made her shudder and grunt in disgust daily.

But this is not why patrols suck. Patrols suck because they are the exact opposite of stealth training.

Normal patrolling guards wander a single stretch of the main wall or stand guard, something Ino had also wondered about. ANBU PATROLS on the other hand ran. Four hours at a time. Around the entire outer area of the village. For hours at a time.

The first time Ino made what she would come to call 'Gai-sensei's nightmare run of evil doom' had been with her new partner Momichi, a young red head from a poorer ninja clan. Ino's alarm bells went off when Momichi asked the biggest Ino's thighs had ever been.

"What?" the blonde replied.

"I mean muscle wise. Biggest circumference?"

"How is that relevant?"

Momichi chuckled, "Because at the end of this you'll be able to choke a rhino with them."

And she was right. By all the gods a Shinto priest could name in an hour she was right. Their first meal break had Ino rubbing a special salve on her thighs and buttocks for simple friction from her panties for god's sake.

"You'll want to stop wearing things like that if you'll be on these for a while," Momichi cat-called from across their sitting area.

"What underwear?"

"Yeah."

"You're serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be? If you don't believe me fine. But I don't want to hear a single complaint when you put on granny panties and end up with a rash and a thong at the end of the day." Momichi shrugged and hastily finished her meal. She clapped her hands before leaping off. Ino grunted in aggravation, pulled her pants back up, and followed her.

About twenty minutes after that Momichi gave the order to halt. Ino crouched down low behind her patrol partner and focused on the small group leaving the Western Gate. Ino's eyes widened behind her mask as she saw a familiar shock of blonde hair. The fox masked ninja looked directly at her, waved, and then sped off with the rest of his squad.

After a minute of staring at the place he had been Ino looked up to see Momichi grinning at her, her mask pulled up enough for her shining white teeth to be seen.

"Someone has a crush!"

Ino absently rubbed her neck. "You have no idea."

**.xxxxX**

Ino collapsed onto her bed. The feeling of a clean set of sheets, as Konoha summers were too hot for comforters, took away a lot of the stress she had been feeling lately. Of course it didn't help the intense soreness or pounding in her thighs, hips, and ankles.

With a sigh Ino closed her eyes and thought about going to sleep, until there came a ring at her door. Grunted she hoisted herself up and sauntered, grumbling the entire way, back downstairs to her door.

"Whattaya want?!" he roared at the person waiting on the other side. The ANBU messenger nearly leapt out of her skin.

"I'M SORRY MASTER I'll…wait you're not Naruto…" the girl stated as if Ino had forgotten it.

Ino wondered if she should smack herself or the girl. "Sorry, what do you need?" she asked after regaining control of herself.

"This is a special delivery message from the direct hand of the Hokage herself," Kosuna replied handing over the scroll. Ino took it and thanked her, then closed her door.

She inspected it thoroughly as she returned to her bed room. Flipping it from hand to hand she finally decided to open it. As her hand peeled to the fold back she felt a sudden uprising of chakra.

Instinctively she tossed it to the ground and away from her, but she was encompassed in a blast of light and chakra.

Ino had raised her hands to protect her face and head and held that position as she landed feet first on soft grass. Ino's toes immediately dug into the soft soil and knew immediately it was Konoha soil due to its softness after the rain several days ago.

Ino's brain told her to duck.

The fist it wanted to dodge was too fast. Its owner took into account how low Ino would drop after sensing her and the perfect calculation allowed her to clock Ino straight in the cheek.

To the young blonde it felt as if the left side of her face liquefied for several millionths of a second before reforming and pushing her away. She flew almost five meters to her right flipping until her shoulder collided with a stout old oak, numbing her arm all the way to her fingertips.

A series of cracking knuckles alerted her to her attacker. Ino looked up to see her noble leader standing over her, hand raised and a look of murder in her eyes.

"Yamanaka Ino, ANBU Private Class of the Information Gathering Domestic Division, today is the day you have been waiting for." Tsunade clenched her fist and raised it beyond her head, "Today is the day you are executed for murder of your comrade Haruno Sakura!"

Ino's locked eyes with Tsunade and as the older ninja attacked her a single though went through her mind.

_I'm about to die while goin commando._

_

* * *

_A/N: So how was it? I'm gonna be postin again to try and finish my favorite stories. With Serpentine Embrace and Demolisher that may be a bit of a stretch but I'll be trying.

Thanks for reading.


	9. The Sentence

A/N: Hey...been a year. And this is it. The end of Defiled by Her Blood. The final chapter. I'm happy to say that this is how I envisioned it ending.

For those of you that enjoyed this work, thanks for the reviews. I hope you read my other stuff and give me incentive to finish.

_Naruto_ and all related names and locations belong to Masashi Kishimoto

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Humans consider themselves to be 'evolved.' This arrogance comes from the many forms of art and warfare they have developed over the centuries. However in the grand scheme of nature humans have actually in many cases 'devolved.'

The average human cannot sense earthquakes until they are under their own feet, smell beyond a set, and sadly small, distance, and have even developed suicidal tendencies, subverting our own drive to survive and live.

Hardly evolved.

But as in many cases, those that no longer think of such distinctions ignore them completely.

As the most powerful punch to come from Konoha careened for her head Ino's body moved forward then back avoiding the blow by instinct alone. The tree she had been knocked against was blown backward, groaning all the while, into the distance between four others, entangling their branches.

Ino gasped. She wriggled out from under her elder and moved to Tsunade's rear.

"I've been wondering," Tsunade said softly as she turned to face Ino, "Why didn't you kill yourself?"

Ino started, but kept her face calm.

"Oh? Won't even give me that. Well how about a trade?" Tsunade asked holding her hand as a show of peace. "Did you know someone _was_ supposed to die that night?"

"What?" Ino asked.

Tsunade laughed, "Well not really. The entire plan was to mortally wound a genin who communicated constantly with her father, a known terrorist and missing-nin. But the stupid little girl couldn't keep herself from having to piss every five minutes in the rain and spotted one of the ANBU team. You know the rest.

"So tell me, why didn't you kill yourself Ino?"

Ino's lips shook, "S-Suicide is a coward's way of dealing with their problems," she finally admitted.

Tsunade snorted, she remembered Asuma once saying something like that to her. "A good answer. So sit still," Tsunade exploded into motion. She leapt over a dozen feet and lifted one leg to crash it down on Ino, who avoided the attack and its subsequent crater only to be kicked in her spine by a secondary attack made just after Tsunade landed, "AND DIE!"

Ino rolled along the ground sputtering and coughing. She finally stopped and pushed herself up to her hands and knees. Blood dribbled down her chin from her mouth and at least two head wounds.

"I-I can't."

"WHY NOT! WHAT GOOD IS YOUR LIFE NOW!"

Ino clenched her fists, digging into the soil with her fingers. An image of Naruto over her, smiling at her, filled her mind. "I don't want to be without him."

Tsunade bristled, knowing full well who Ino meant.

"I owe it to him to try and make amends."

A rough hand grabbed her ponytail and wrenched her head back so she was forced to look upwards. Tsunade's breath played teasingly against her ear, "Atone with your life."

The powerful kunoichi hefted her victim and threw her at one of the few remaining unscathed trees around the clearing. The younger woman collided with her chest knocking the wind out of her and crunching several ribs. Ino cried out and fell limply to the ground, her arms and legs twitching.

"That may be internal bleeding," Tsunade called as she sauntered quite casually up to Ino, "Not a good thing that."

The older of the two blondes tapped Ino's side with her foot. Ino screamed, as best she could considering her damage, and cringed away from the aging warrioress. Tsunade spat to the side and cracked her knuckles again.

"Come now Ino. This is hardly fitting for a veteran of Konoha. Stand. Fight. If you wish to live so badly then please by all means," Tsunade crouched down and put her hands around Ino's throat, "struggle with all that's left in you.

Ino wriggled, but Tsunade's strength was great. However Ino wondered absently if she would even feel her neck break, or if Tsunade would make her suffer more. Ino closed her eyes, accepting her death.

"Goddamn it. This is my lot in life."

The pessimistic voice came right after the sound of boot meeting bone. Tsunade started, her neck cracked. But her grip remained. "Impressive," the Hokage said as she released on subordinate to stare down another. "Are you prepared for the consequences of this Nyosai?"

The ANBU captain straightened his posture. "Maybe. I never knew you would stoop this low Hokage-sama. No…Tsunade," he paused and smiled behind his mask, "Bachan."

The calm face of a practiced killer broke and revealed how inflamed by rage Tsunade was. The terrible look upon her countenance made Nyosai shudder. In the fractions of a second in which his guard was compromised Tsunade had thrown herself forward. He tried to counter her first attack, but could not hope to stop the second or third.

Each blow was like a sledge hammer against a tire, except Nyosai's ribcage and gut were nowhere near as flexible as a tire.

Snapping in pain from the blows Nyosai groaned loudly, tumbling back and to the side. He resisted the urge to crumble and fall long enough to plunge a well aimed thumb into Tsunade's left eye. She roared, kicked out in response, and struck Nyosai's knee. Ino nearly vomited at the sound of bone breaking coupled with the image of the ninja falling to the ground, crippled and twisting.

Tsunade pulled her hand away from her face and saw blood, felt blood. She could still see, which Ino was amazed by. Slowly, and with purpose Tsunade turned toward her original prey.

"To think a mere year has passed since it happened. And in that time you have wrought so much damage." Tsunade swept her arm outward. "You join the ranks of the ANBU and my apprentice is killed." She did not add by whom, "An up and coming member of the Hyuuga clan's few ANBU members causes a ruckus and loses status inside and outside the clan. A high ranking infiltration expert who has finished more A-rank missions than you've had periods has turned against me.

"And what's more." Tsunade stalked forward, her honey brown eyes distorted by rage and the blood welling in her left, "you've taken something that was never supposed to belong to you!"

Tsunade stood over Ino.

The two looked deep into the other's eyes.

Ino saw a sad old woman, clinging to the few people she loved and loves dearly.

Tsunade saw a pathetic girl who held something precious but had no claim to it.

Tsunade's time was almost up. The special herbal mix that had increased her speed and squeezed the last vestiges or raw power out of her body was already losing effect. Tsunade had made and taken the potion merely to even herself with Ino's score on the ANBU exams, however Tsunade did not know of how rundown Ino was, and that would ultimately by her downfall.

The blow would have pulverized Ino's body. If it hit anywhere but her chest the effect would seem like a bomb had gone off from the inside of her body. Striking the head would have been a mere cascade of blood and atomized bone. It would have been the chest hit, centered between Ino's full breasts that would have made her death so spectacular.

The force from such a strike would have rendered Ino's physical core nothing more than putty, a few scraps of meat and bone and limbs.

But the single flaw in Tsunade's amazing power had always been its method of transference. Compacted chakra, released at impact. Like a static shock it needed something to ground out in to take effect.

So when Naruto grabbed Tsunade's wrist not only did her normal attack lose its force, but the blow's chakra dispersed harmlessly as a breeze that wafted over Ino's face.

Silence radiated from where Uzumaki Naruto stood. He held the wrist of Tsunade so tightly it was if he was holding her up, which as the potion lost its potency, he was. Tears welled in her eyes, more from the shame of this situation than the pain of Naruto's grip.

"Why?" Tsunade asked.

His ANBU mask obscured his features, but it did not hold back the disdain in his words, "Because I promised Sakura I'd protect Ino. And I promised her grave I'd kill her murderer. If you kill her Tsunade, I will fail in both."

He released the Hokage, who tumbled to her knees and seemed to wither before Ino. Naruto looked down at the younger blonde and held out his hand. "Come on. We need to get you and Nyosai to the hospital. Tsunade doesn't have the chakra to heal either of you right now."

As he helped his lover up Tsunade hiccupped and wiped the drying blood from her cheek.

**.xxxxX**

Two weeks passed as Ino healed. The incident was labeled, with affirmations from Ino and Nyosai both, as a training exercise that went wrong. The hospital believed it merely because only Shizune had seen the damage that Tsunade could do, and she did not aid in the treatment of either ANBU.

Tsunade herself grew weak. The potion she had concocted to make killing Ino easier had drained her more than would have been though possible. Shizune and Naruto, who has told the attendant Tsunade was making a new type of soldier pill in secret, deduced it was a combination of the stress she suffered during Pein's attack years ago.

While her body weakened Tsunade's mind grew sharper. However she did not offer Naruto any explanation for her actions or the motives behind them.

"Did you want Sakura to die on that mission?" he asked bluntly on the last day of her treatment after Shizune had left the room.

Tsunade was sitting on an examination table, her hands in her lap, and her face downcast. Naruto had to admit, even at her worse she still kept herself beautiful. It didn't help she had refused to wear a robe her size and instead chose a comfier, and larger, one that didn't close properly.

She was silent for a long time. "Will you hate me if I answer?"

The Jinchuuriki closed his eyes, "I could never hate you Tsunade."

He was being honest.

Tsunade looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, her left had in fact lost some of its sight she would learn within the next week.

Quietly, like a child she answered him.

Naruto closed his eyes, stood and put a hand on his shoulder. Shizune entered as Naruto left the room and all she would tell those who would ask later was that Tsunade cried for a very long time, much like she would when Jiraya's birthday would near.

Yamanaka Ino, who was more physically hurt than spiritually, did not speak to anyone as she recovered beyond the odd 'Thank you,' 'Yes please,' and 'Those aren't mine.' She kept to herself and thought over the last year. She still could not sleep, even the drugs they gave her would only take effect long enough for the specter of her best friend to appear, shocking Ino into a series of screaming spasms.

A specialist checked her and announced she needed a special type of sleeping drug that would totally block out her dreaming state. They helped, marginally.

Naruto, who visited her every day, revealed after being asked that he had left a sensor seal on her house. He mentioned it helped Tsunade wasn't very good with anything besides charging seals. When the seal has to use chakra she always puts in too much. The revelation made Ino take pause. She did not remember when or if Naruto had time to do it. But the combination of her problems from before the fight, compounded by the fight's after effects on her body, made her also sometimes forget she and Naruto had become lovers.

The day she asked "Why did you save me?" was one of the hardest in Ino's life. She wanted, needed, to know. The simple explanation Naruto gave, a mere repeat of what he had said to Tsunade that night, left Ino wanting.

**.xxxxX**

Four years later, Naruto proposed to his lover on the day of his coronation. The whole of Konoha cheered as Ino took the ring and kissed Naruto deeply. Only a certain old woman heard her say: Only if you answer that question.

Naruto himself had pondered the reasoning behind his salvation of the woman who killed his Sakura-chan. Some part of him, mayhap the one that is charmed by a certain power, only thinks of Ino as that much. The murderer of Sakura. But it was the part of Naruto that wanted recognition and affection that chose to save her, despite the obvious feelings he had toward her death.

The time it took the blonde, who had never been one for such detail explanations of his thoughts, took hours. Ino patiently listened, only stopping him once, to eat. He fumbled over his words many times and kept going back to those two old promises.

Ino understood, for the most part. The level of understanding was the same as when Naruto found Ino would bring her ANBU sword to bed with her. After the events with Tsunade four years ago she had cleaned the stained blade, but it never lose its red sheen, much to the chagrin of the murderess, who viewed it as a bad omen.

The night of Naruto's first day as the Hokage is also the night his first child was conceived. The child was a girl, her eyes were a light sea green, which Naruto found out belong to his grandfather.

On the day of the birth Hinata left the hospital crying, she didn't understand why her suggestion for a name had made Ino so angry. The girl really did look like her.

**.xxxxX**

Time passed slowly for the Uzumaki household. Ino aged well, even better than Tsunade, who had taken the blonde under her wing soon after Sakumi-chan had been weaned from her mother's breast. Even as she neared sixty Ino's face barely showed signs of lines or stress.

Her husband, the reigning and benevolent Hokage aged even less. As he reached his final growth spurt Naruto stopped aging visibly. Only a faint whisper of grey in his blond hair gave any clue to his true age.

Many people believed it was this fact, and the rumors both Uzumakis remained quite virile that gave tense relations with their children. In truth Sakumi, now a captain in the ANBU never did get along with her mother. The two would argue constantly and there were times Ino would cling to her old ANBU sword and mutter about how stupid Hinata was.

Needless to say Uzumaki Sakumi was never happier than when her father suggested they help her get her own apartment.

Naruto's twin sons were more estranged towards their father. They, being unnaturally empathetic, felt at times a great vibration between their parents. Even when both seemed happy there was this _air_ of something they could not place. Ino had always been macabre and dark, especially when she was told a fourth Uzumaki child was on the way, but even more so when Naruto would talk of his younger days.

Then there was the one name.

No one said it.

No one wanted to.

Only Uzumaki Shiji made the mistake of uttering it when he told his mother he had found the perfect name for his own daughter. The sounds of yelling echoed through their neighborhood for hours before he stormed out of the house, a look of anger and murder in his deep sea green eyes.

On Ino's sixtieth birthday her children, all four, earned her ire for the final time, a split that would never mend in the Uzumaki family. The twins took their mother's old sword, which was rusted and broken beyond repair, and had it reforged. They left the village to have it done so they did not see Ino's rampage of anger and despair that had the whole of the Uzumaki household in an uproar.

Naruto came home from a diplomatic mission to find all the servants in the house leaving resignations and his home ruined, torn asunder by his wife's unnatural anger. The realization of why calmed what fury had been rising in the patriarch of the family.

Such resignation infuriated Sakumi who yelled at her father for kowtowing to her mother's arrogance and selfishness. She screamed for so long her voice eventually broke. She had been looking for the sword with her husband before Ino had attacked her, screaming for her to leave. Sakumi, who had always taken the brunt of Ino's rage, fought back for the first time and renounced her mother.

Despite this Naruto told Sakumi something that night.

No one, not even her brothers know what their father told her, all they know is that Sakumi swore she would never go back to that house, nor recognize those who built it as her parents.

When the sword, in its new form and sheathe were returned Ino all but disowned the twins demanding they undo their gift and bring her back her sword. Sensing their mother's rage, and how unfathomably deep it was, they left the house and like their sister never returned.

Uzumaki Shiji was killed in a skirmish with the Hidden Mist two years later.

Sakumi and Naruto were present at his funeral, but did not speak to each other, save for this brief interlude.

**.xxxxX**

Forty-two years after the death of Haruno Sakura…

"Hokage-sama," she said curtly.

Naruto winced. So much about Sakumi saddened him. The fact she could not even call him 'father' anymore was what hurt the most. But he knew why. She of all people understood, or at least tried to, why their household was such a cursed place.

He turned from his son's coffin to her. Despite his best attempts his face scrunched in memory. It was not only her eyes, but her face, forehead, and even how she wore her hair reminded him entirely of Sakura. Naruto knew full well that it was impossible. Neji had even suggested Naruto was merely reacting to what Hinata said.

In truth no one else thought the two had any semblance.

"Yes," he answered softly.

"What measures are you taking about this?" Sakumi was next to her daughters. The women both towered over their mother. They almost were as tall as Naruto, who had crested six feet four inches. Both had a sad look on their face. Despite their best attempts Naruto and Ino had given birth to Shiji shortly before Sakumi's own first pregnancy, so his nieces and he had always been close.

Naruto almost didn't understand what she meant, "We are hunting the survivors of the scouting party as we speak."

Sakumi's intense gaze wafted over those assembled. "I see that your wife," she almost spat the word, "Is not here."

Naruto fiddled with his dosu, "She is leading the search party."

Sakumi's prominent brow furrowed. Her moth-Ino had not been active for a decade or more. "That is…"

"She does love you Sakumi-chan. She loves all of you." He made sure to indicate her entire family. One he did not see so often anymore.

Sakumi rubbed her face, a well hidden scar the meaning of the attention. "Yes. I believe she does," Sakumi turned her back to her father, "Otherwise how could she also hate me so intently for something that's your fault?"

Naruto winced again at the jab. But she was right. His genes had somehow given her the appearance that had driven Ino into a rage whenever Sakumi corrected her mother or tried to show how smart she was.

Naruto sighed deeply and turned to the coffin. He put a hand on the lid, next to the picture of his boy. Tears welled in his eyes and he held them a bay by leaning his head back.

"We've found them Hokage-sama," Ino's voice transmitted to him.

The Rokudaime Hokage took his leave of his village, his ceremonial funeral garb shifting fluidly into his shinobi gear. The entire population of Konoha gave Uzumaki Naruto a wide berth. For the Fox of the land Fire was going hunting.

**.xxxxX**

Naruto, Ino, and four ANBU guards sat around a circle detailing the movements of the Mist.

"They will circle toward the canyon to try and find a place to heal. There are only five of them. But they all survived Shiji-sama's assault and have formidable summoning jutsu," Naruto's personal guard, ironically the son of Hyuuga Hasuki.

Naruto rubbed his face. "Very well. Fuyutski and I will move ahead. Ino and Ginjo will swoop around the flanks following us. We'll transmit to you if we come upon the group. Do the same."

All three nodded and dashed off. Naruto motioned for Fuyutski to go ahead before he slowly made several hand seals.

**.xxxxX**

Ino's movements were fluid and wasted no motion. In her long tenure as an ANBU she never thought she would live, or last, to be fighting enemies at her age. Stopping in a low hanging branch Ino touched her face and sighed as she felt the softness and youth in her skin. Even after arguing with herself for the better part of her forties she had resorted to using Tsunade's technique. While her face remained fine it was the rest of her that needed the physical boost.

It didn't help Naruto still ravaged her like he was twenty.

The thought brought back memories.

_What?...how?_

_I can't really say Uzumaki-san other than you are pregnant again._

_But…I've…that is impossible! The wound to my stomach-_

_Nevertheless, it seems the gods of fertility blessed you twice!_

Ino scoffed and began to move. As she leapt from branch to branch she clenched her fists and had to shake her head to hold back tears.

"_WHY CAN'T I DO IT! You dye your hair!" Sakumi yelled furiously._

"_I'm not saying you can't dye your hair. Just not that color! EVER!"_

"_BUT WHY!"_

"_BECAUSE I AM YOUR MOTHER!"_

_Sakumi clenched her teeth and her fists, "Why are you only ever my _mother_ when I'm doing something that pisses you off! Are you so hung up on that stupid friend of yours that got killed that-"_

_The sound of Ino's sword across her daughter's cheek was soft, almost a whisper. But the scream of pain brought every servant in the building._

"_My god! Uzumaki-sama! Her face!"_

"_Ino! INO WHAT DID YOU DO!"_

She passed by a clearing and sighed.

_What is wrong with that name mother? I think it's beautiful!_

_I don't care. I hate that name. Don't use it._

_I'm not like Sakumi. I won't do something just because you tell me not to. But at least explain to me why!_

_I CAN'T! AND YOU WOULD NEVER UNDERSTAND! You're just like your father Shiji! You say you want to know and understand when all you'll do is judge me!_

_I'm not like father! Sakumi isn't like your friend! We're not who you keep saying we're like mother! If you forget that then you might as well forget we truly exist! FINE! If this is how you feel FINE! But I will not have my marriage ruined by your feelings like you did to Sakumi's!_

_Get out…get out! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE AGAIN!_

_Then so be it! MOM! Enjoy your life alone with my father who never understands!_

Ino stopped and held herself, "Shiji…I'm sorry…"

_I told Sakumi._

_Told her what?_

_Why you hate her eyes and her hair._

…_Why would you do that?...Why, why would you do that to me?_

_I think the better question is why is this still so deep inside you?_

_I'm sorry I can't forget what happened as well as you Naruto. I'm sorry that Sakura was more than a fuck toy with me._

_This conversation will not end with that Ino. Look at me._

…

_LOOK AT ME DAMN IT!_

…

_To hell with it then. I have work to do. _

…_Why did you tell her?_

_Because someone had to. And she forgives you, at least she says she does._

…

"Ino. I've found them. They're fifty meters away from my position."

Ino responded, "I copy. Moving to intercept."

The aged Kunoichi exploded from the canopy and landed softly in front of her targets. They weren't there.

"What?" Ino asked.

She scanned the area intently. Even Naruto's chakra sensing scroll could not find her prey. She snorted. "Damn they must have used something to hide or get away."

He landed so silently behind her that for an instant she didn't notice the light hum of his blade.

_The short sword, Dosu if you prefer, was magnificent. It had a slightly curved tip with a wider than average double-edged blade. The hilt of such swords was usually straight so it could be hidden. This one had a guard that was more like a thin ring around the top of the hilt itself. Carved into the blade was the visage of a toad._

"Where are they?" she asked.

He was silent for a moment longer, "Dead. I killed them all four minutes ago. You've gotten slow Ino-chan."

"Why so long? Why for so long?" she whimpered, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I…I ruined our lives. Our children…"

Naruto sighed, "No Ino. You ruined your own. I gave you those children to help. To remind you that I loved you. Sakumi only wanted your approval. She thought you loved Sakura, your best friend, more than her. The twins only wanted to see you smile. And Shiji…"

Ino hiccupped heavily.

"He only wanted us to be a family again. It was my fault as well. I let it go on for too long."

Ino closed her eyes and undid a clasp on her belt. "Use this one," she said as she drew it. Naruto took the blade from her and sheathed his dosu. The reforged blade shimmered dully in the setting sun.

_She struck, quickly, efficiently. Her medical ninja kill telling her the exact place to pierce her enemy's back and tear through their lung, and their heard. The blade snagged the bitch's rib and crashed off of it down ward. Ino stood toe-to-heel with her first kill as an ANBU._

"Did I ever tell you, you have a very ironic sense of humor?"

"Yes."

Naruto swung the blade up and prepared the blow.

"I love you Naruto."

Naruto's eyes softened. His grip relaxed just a bit. He closed his eyes, "I love you too Ino."

The sword's blade, sharp and fine as a razor, slipped into Ino's spinal cord like a hand into a glove. Ino died instantly. Naruto retracted the blade from her and watched as she slowly fell to her knees. To Naruto's horror, she did not fall forward.

It almost looked as if she was crouched over someone.

He closed his eyes and sheathed the sword she had given him. Turning from the corpse of the second woman he loved Naruto went to the camp ground of the dead Mist to hide the blade.

**.xxxxX**

Naruto and his children live extremely long lives. As he near his one hundred and thirteenth year he fell deathly ill. As he turned one fifteen he could no long leave his bed. As he began to die, his body no so frail and weak in old age, he was surrounded by his last three children.

Sakumi sat by her father's side. Her eyes closed not in reverie but in blindness. The twins held their father's left hand and slowly talked to him.

Despite the death of his body Naruto's mind had grown sharper. He turned his wizened eyes, still bright, toward Sakumi. In a voice more like a dried wind he said, "Under my bed. The leather one."

Asou, the older of the two twins inspected on his father's command and drew out a small leather diary. "Read it…out loud to me. Please Daisuke."

The younger twin took it and opened to the first page. "June fifth, 10XX. Today I take the ANBU exam. I'm excited, which is in truth I'm actually nervous but Sakura-chan and that idiot Naruto have been bugging me to keep up my training that I'm pretty confident. Father is this mother's diary?"

Naruto nodded, "Read it. Until the end…"

And they did. Fifteen hours. A span of time to look into the life of Yamanaka Ino. Naruto found the diary in a hidden alcove in their first home when he was cleaning up after Sakumi as a child. He realized soon after that Ino had written in it during her black outs when she first killed Sakura. So he hid it again and waited. Day by day by day Ino would write, sometimes under her own power, and sometimes in the trance like state she would fall into on the anniversary of Sakura's death.

Daisuke set the book down and looked his father square in the eyes. "This…is what happened? This is why…?"

Naruto, again but much weaker, nodded.

Sakumi squeezed her father's hand and kissed his forehead. "Father…mother died so long ago-"

Tears rolled down his face. With strength he should not have had he pulled his hands free and covered his face. "Forgive me…please…forgive me."

The twins exchanged a look before gazing at their sister who nodded. As she leaned in it was Daisuke that noticed Naruto's arms sagging under their own weight, it was Asou that saw his chest fall, and not rise.

But even as his body grew still his eyes saw his daughter mouth what she had wanted to say for so long.

"We forgive you father…"

**.xxxxX**

_The clearing was bright, really bright. Naruto snorted, startled awake by someone poking him and calling his name. He opened his eyes to see a blinding flash. He lifted his arm to block it, but it seemed to come from everywhere. Two pairs of feet were by his outstretched legs and he tried to make out the two figures standing in front of him._

"_It's about time dobe!" the taller one said. She had on a purple slip and wraps around her legs. She, like the other couldn't have been more than twelve._

_The second leaned forward and laughed, one filled with life. She wore a red dress and blue shorts. Her long pink hair was held up by a red ribbon. "I swear Naruto if we had to wait much longer we would have gone along without you! This is an important day you know! It's my birthday!" _

_Naruto smiled, and stood, each girl took one of his hands and began to pull him along. "That's right! Happy birthday Sakura-chan!"_

_

* * *

_A/N: I argued if I should do this ending. I really did. If anything it was this prospect that kept me from finishing for so long. But for the most part I felt it should end in a way that Naruto continued on a path where he fulfilled his promises. The under tone of this final interlude is he protected Ino all her life afterwards, even from the pain of her own mistakes with their children, and it was only when Ino began to want to repent that Naruto decided to kill her.

In any case this is it. The final part and the end true end. Nothing more. Naruto is dead, so is Ino. Though their kids could have interesting stories, especially Sakumi, little minx.

But, again thank you for reading. Remember this is a work of fiction and is meant to entertain. So if ya weren't entertained then keep ya trap shut!

-MountainWind, blowing away...


End file.
